


PRVL Volume 1

by AuthorAlex97 (Sweetie_Curfy)



Series: PRVL [1]
Category: RWBY, Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Autistic Logan, Autistic meltdowns, Dragon Faunus!Roman, Kidnapping, Nightmares, Past Child Abuse, RWBY au, mentions of a celebrity suicide theory, mentions of the death of a parent, mentions of the death of a sibling, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-29
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-03-11 03:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 60,852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13515702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweetie_Curfy/pseuds/AuthorAlex97
Summary: Beacon Academy- one of the four advanced combat schools in the world of Remnant. Many from all walks of life come to learn how to be proper warriors, how to fight monsters, save the helpless, become heroes. From the day an acceptance letter is received, lives are forever changed.Patton Passio, Roman Reptilia, Virgil Vengier, and Logan Lyceum are at four vastly different points in their lives. The one similarity they all share is that their crossing paths at Beacon will keep them all moving forward.





	1. All For One

**Author's Note:**

> Read the Behind the Scenes here: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/170241601398/prvl-v1c1-all-for-one-behind-the-scenes
> 
> Tags will be added as the fic progresses. Let me know if I miss something that needs to be tagged!

The pouring rain made the beaten path slick, which the Huntress quickly came to realize was not at her advantage as she slid away from the Hunter’s attack. Her boots sunk deep into the mud as she pushed against the ground to charge at him; he used the mud to his advantage and easily slid under her fist. She stumbled and hit the ground.

A dark green boot shot into view, and she threw herself out of the way just before it collided with the metal guard over her mouth. She grabbed his leg and yanked him forward, and he finally lost his footing and landed with a glorious _splat_ , speckling his green fauxhawk with brown muck. She launched herself back a few steps and readied the crossbow on her arm.

Flaming arrows shot at the Hunter, but he was out of the way by the time they hit the ground. He sprinted in an arc around the Huntress as she shot arrow after arrow. None of them made contact. Once he reached the other side of her, he leapt into the air and aimed his fists at her. Blades shot out of his brass knuckles.

She stepped to the side just enough for the attack to miss, and then spun around and shoved her heel into the side of his head. He hit the ground and rolled; she shot an arrow surrounded by white mist and charged.

Ice coated his powder blue sleeve, freezing it to the wet grass below. Just as the Huntress was coming in to stomp on his face again, he punched himself free and dodged. Her foot sunk into the mud, rendering her immobile, and he used this to his advantage as he sliced the blades at her. She ducked back; the ends of her stray burgundy hairs floated to the ground. Her free leg swung up and collided with one of his arms, and the brass knuckle on that hand skidded across the path. With her other foot, she kicked up and knocked the other one into the air. He reached for it, but an arrow beat him to it, shooting it into the mud a few feet away.

The Hunter sprinted to grab his weapons, and the Huntress yanked her foot free in time to tackle him to the ground. He rolled and kicked her away, but she grabbed the brass knuckle in reach and threw it far off. Seeing this, he turned to her, aqua glare piercing. They stood and faced each other. She waited for his move.

Instead of making a break for his weapons, he simply shut his eyes and put his fists together. The wind began to whip; her ponytail flew into her eyes, and raindrops stabbed at what little uncovered skin she had.

When the wind finally died down enough for the Huntress to control her hair, four familiar feminine silhouettes surrounded the Hunter. He smirked; she grimaced.

“Oh, shhh-”

* * *

On any normal morning in the spring, the loading docks in Vale were not very busy. Business people heading to work or the occasional Huntsman on their way to a mission would tiredly await their ships while sipping their coffee in silence. There was usually hardly a word heard throughout the station.

However, anyone who took the ships to work would know better than to be at the station on the days that the semesters at Beacon Academy began, such as today.

Patton could hardly focus on following his parents as he watched all of the other Hunters and Huntresses in training pass. The echoing of all of the talking almost put his ears in pain with how loud it was, and he struggled to not bump into any strangers. He was already anxious about leaving home for the first time in his life, and all of the overwhelming chaos was _not_ helping.

All that he knew was that he needed to follow the head of bright, blonde hair in a bob and the dark hair with the blue shirt, and he would be okay. That was all he needed to do.

The blonde haired turned back and looked at him. “You’re sure you remembered to pack everything, right?”

“I’m sure, Mom,” Patton replied. “Everything except my shield is in the bags we put in cargo.”

“I still don’t understand why you had to bring your shield on the ship,” the man in the blue shirt grumbled. He shot a grumpy glance back at Patton, who felt his hands go cold at the sight. Faking a smile, he shoved his hands in his pockets.

“A lot of people have been saying we can’t get to our bags until after initiation,” he pointed out, “And the papers we got said that we need our weapons for that. Most of the people here have their weapons, anyway!”

“Well, _I_ don’t think that should be allowed,” the man huffed. “What if there’s a faunus on that ship that’s trying to jack it? I just don’t think it’s very safe.”

Patton remained silent and looked away. He knew better than to argue with his Dad when he said things like that. Cold spread to his thighs.

The three stopped outside of the gate for the ship to Beacon. Patton had to take a deep breath; the place was swarming with people more than anywhere else at the loading docks. It was starting to get a little too overwhelming.

Patton’s parents turned around to face him. When his mother pulled him into a tight hug, she rocked him back and forth, and Patton felt the world get a little easier to handle for a moment.

“You’re going to do great out there,” she said to him, “But if anything happens, if you decide you don’t want to do this anymore, you can always come back.”

Pulling his hands out of his pockets, he wrapped his arms around her. “I know. I’ll miss you.”

She pulled back and tearfully smiled at him. “Don’t forget to call us sometimes, okay?”

“I won’t.”

His mother stepped back, and his father stepped forward, checking that the cloak around Patton’s throat was secure before patting him on the shoulders.

“Well… Do your best,” he said.

They stared at each other for a beat. Patton half expected him to say something else, but no words came. Eventually, he gave him a curt nod with a forced smile. Was he really not going to say anything about it? Was he finally escaping that expectation? Was he finally-?

His father pulled him into a hug and put his lips next to his ear. “Make sure no one knows.”

Patton shivered at the whisper. Nope, it was too good to be true.

When they pulled apart, his father patted him on the shoulders one more time before he and his mother stepped aside to let Patton pass. He gave them a shaky smile and headed to the gate, looking back over and over until they were out of sight.

Once alone and surrounded by strangers, Patton felt his throat close up. This was too overwhelming. Maybe he should turn back. Maybe this was a bad idea.

Regardless of the thoughts swimming in his head, he pressed on. Ahead, he saw a boy with dark hair- for a second, he thought it might be his father, and his heart skipped a beat while relief flooded through him -but then he saw black and red dragon wings on his back, and he realized it was someone else. He pushed through the people to reach him.

“…sucks that Torius graduated already, or else all of us could be in Beacon at once!” the girl next to the winged boy exclaimed. “Wouldn’t that have been awesome?!”

“Oh, yeah, imagine how much all of the professors would _love_ us,” the boy on her other side sarcastically remarked. “Four of us sparring every second of the day, in the halls, breaking into each other’s classes to challenge each other to a duel… I’m sure they’d all appreciate that.”

“Wh- do you guys do that?” the winged boy asked, eyebrows shot up.

The girl laughed, looking at him. “Well, yeah! Why do you think we got suspended so much?”

“You get _suspended?!_ Please, do not include me in these antics! If I ever want to be on the same level as Team BYRD, I need to be present for all of my classes!”

The girl opened her mouth, but her eyes landed on Patton, cutting her off. She beamed; Patton could see huge fangs amongst her teeth.

“Hi, there!” she exclaimed. “Are you coming to Beacon, too?”

The two boys looked at him, and Patton had to take a second to find his voice. “Uh- y-yeah,” he replied.

“Oh, sick! You must be a first year, right?” the girl asked. “So is Roman! Roman, introduce yourself!”

“Well, it seems you’ve already done that for me, Trix,” the winged boy snapped. Regardless, he held his hand out to Patton. “You can call me Roman. The green haired gentleman over there is Anole, my older brother, and this annoying creature is my sister.”

The girl- Trix, Patton assumed -shrugged. “That’s fair.”

Smiling, Patton shook Roman’s hand. “I’m Patton. I’m here alone.”

“No siblings, then? That sounds like an absolute dream,” Roman moaned. “No one to pester you or embarrass you or _suspend_ you-!”

“Oh, you’re just jealous ‘cause we’re stronger than you,” Trix laughed.

“Who ever said that?! Just because you’re a fourth year doesn’t mean you’re stronger than I am!”

“Uh, yeah, it does,” Anole pointed out. “She could kick your sorry butt any day.”

Roman crossed his arms. “Well, maybe she could kick _yours_ …”

“I’m sorry, who won our sparring match yesterday?” Trix asked, smug grin plastered on her face.

They walked onto the airship; Roman’s arguments were lost on Patton’s ears as he looked out of the windows on the walls. They were already kind of high up, and they hadn’t even left the ground yet…

“Well!”

Roman’s sharp reply broke into Patton’s attention, and he turned back to the family.

“If _that’s_ how you feel about it, then I’m not spending this whole ride next to you!” he snapped, wings fluttering.

“Oh? Who’re you gonna sit with? Patton’s the only person outside of the family that you know,” Trix retorted.

“Goodness gracious, we haven’t even left and you two are fighting,” Anole groaned.

“I’ll meet someone! Anyone is better than _you_.”

Trix rolled her eyes. “Fine, do what you want. In the meantime, we’ll be replacing you with Patton as our new baby brother. Have fun.”

Patton’s eyes lit up as he looked at Trix, but Roman only caught a glance of the scene as he whirled around and marched away.

* * *

“…It’s just so slow!” Roman exclaimed, looking at the boy next to him. “You know, if we were allowed to get to Beacon by our own means, I would have been there and back by now. I’m a _very_ fast flier.”

“Uh huh.”

“I am! I once outflew a Nevermore,” he said, turning back to the window. “Beat it by a few minutes to where I was going.”

The boy looked up from his scroll, raising an eyebrow. “A Nevermore? Really?”

“Yes, really!”

He scoffed. “Yeah, right. Must’ve been the slowest Nevermore to exist.”

Roman glared at him. “Oh? You think you could be faster than I, you beast?”

“If anyone’s the beast here, it’s you, faunus,” the boy laughed.

Blood boiling, Roman crossed his arms. “Excuse me, my name is _Roman_. Not faunus. It’s my species, not my name.”

“And mine’s Virgil,” the boy retorted. “My species is human, if you couldn’t tell by my lack of beasty traits.”

“We are _not_ -”

“ _Hello, and welcome to Beacon_.”

The two turned away from each other to see a hologram of a blonde woman hovering in front of the window.

“Who’s that?” Virgil asked.

“You don’t know?” Roman responded.

“ _My name is Glynda Goodwitch._ ”

“Never heard of her.”

“She spoke at orientation!”

“ _You are among a privileged few who have been selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it._ ”

Virgil scoffed. “Yeah, no pressure.”

“ _You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world._ ”

The hologram flickered and went out; Roman raised an eyebrow at Virgil.

“Seriously? You had no idea who that was?”

Rolling his eyes, Virgil threw his hands in the air, careful to not hit anyone with the long pole in his hands. “I didn’t! Is there a problem with that, Prince Know-It-All?”

Roman spluttered. “It’s _Glynda Goodwitch_! One of the most acclaimed professors at Beacon? Do you know _nothing_ about the school you’re attending?!”

Virgil went to respond, but the view outside caught his attention; in the distance, the school began to come into view, and his words caught in his throat at the sight.

It was big- _much_ bigger than he had been anticipating. From what Virgil could see, it almost looked like it was bigger that the town he’d come from. The buildings were much taller and grander than anything he’d ever seen. They all looked like they had been built from something straight out of a fantasy book…

“What, have you never seen the school before?” Roman snapped, breaking Virgil out of his trance.

He rolled his eyes. “Listen, man, I live in Mistral,” Virgil stated. “I didn’t make it to orientation, so _no_ , I _don’t_ know as much as I should. Do you have a problem with that?”

“Well, if it’s so far, why not just go to Haven instead of Beacon?” Roman shot back.

Virgil glared, and then he turned around. “I’m not gonna stand here and be criticized by a faunus.” He started to head off, but stopped and shot a glance back. “Good luck at initiation. You’ll need it.”

Smirking at the sound of Roman’s furious stuttering, Virgil headed off into the crowd.

* * *

If the campus had been something to stare at on the ship, it was _much_ more impressive up close. When the students had been dropped off, Virgil had walked aimlessly around campus for the better part of the hour they had before their meeting in the amphitheater, just soaking in all of the architecture and beauty. Getting to the amphitheater itself had been an adventure- seeing as he’d never been on campus before, he had absolutely no grasp of the map yet -but after following a few others who seemed to know where they were going, he eventually found himself in the middle of a huge crowd of people.

Virgil swallowed thickly, looking around. Somewhere, in the midst of all of these people, three strangers stood, and by tomorrow night, they would be his teammates that he would room with and spend all of his time with for the next four years. All Virgil could do right now was hope that he wouldn’t let them down.

“Hello.”

Flinching at the voice, Virgil snapped his head to look to his left. A boy stood, dressed in black and blue, adjusting his glasses, and, most importantly, looking directly at him. Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“Uh… hi?”

The boy held out his hand. “It is my understanding that we will be acquiring teammates within the next day or so,” he stated. “I have very little practice in making and keeping friends, so I wanted to get some practice in. You seemed to be the only other person in view without friends as well, and I assumed we could learn from each other. My name is Logan.”

He had to hold back a laugh as he shook Logan’s hand. “Virgil. Little bit of advice, you don’t have to be so tact when you’re befriending someone. Just talk to them.”

Logan took back his hand and wrapped it around his other arm, clutching a dark blue book to his chest. “Oh. Thank you. I will be sure to keep that in mind when meeting my teammates. Although, I am a bit lacking in the communication department…”

“Well, you’re doing alright so far,” Virgil laughed. “It’s something you learn as you go. Have you never had friends before?”

“Only relatives and the children of my parents’ friends,” Logan replied. “Friendship is not my strong suit. It often requires a… broad understanding of emotions, which I don’t have.”

“What, like drama? Tell me about it,” Virgil replied, rolling his eyes. “All of my friends at my old school started talking about romance and stuff, which I just… don’t get, you know?”

Logan nodded, turning towards the front. “Partially.”

There was a dip in the conversation; Logan looked at Virgil.

“Are we considered friends now?”

Virgil laughed. “Yeah, if you want to be.”

A smile formed on Logan’s lips. “I would very much enjoy that.”

Someone cleared their throat into the microphone, and Virgil and Logan looked up to see a man with gray hair standing on stage. Glynda Goodwitch stood behind him in the same pose she had been on the hologram.

“I’ll… keep this brief,” the man said.

“What for?” Virgil muttered.

“You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your lives to the protection of the people.”

Logan leaned over to Virgil. “Is this not common knowledge?” he whispered.

“But I look amongst you,” he continued, “and all I see is wasted energy.”

Virgil scoffed. “Alright, who the heck does this guy think he is?”

“Professor Ozpin, of course,” Logan replied. “The headmaster of Beacon.”

“Oh, cool, so the Man thinks we’re nothing. Great start.”

“You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step.”

Logan stopped as Professor Ozpin stepped away from the microphone. “I- I’m sorry, what did he say? What does he mean, ‘knowledge can only carry you so far’? Knowledge is what life is for!”

Glynda took Professor Ozpin’s spot, bringing Logan’s attention back to the stage. “You will gather in the ballroom tonight,” she informed. “Tomorrow your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed.”

Just like that, it was over. Logan and Virgil looked at each other; Logan could tell his eyes were wide, but Virgil simply shrugged and turned towards the door.

“I guess we’re going to the ballroom.”

* * *

Shirtless guys _everywhere_.

Logan didn’t know what he was feeling right now, and it was all very overwhelming. Virgil had left a few minutes ago when he realized he’d grabbed the wrong bag and had to go back to the cargo ship to try to find the right one, so Logan was sitting on his sleeping bag, alone, in his unicorn onesie, surrounded by shirtless boys on every side of him. Some of them were flexing, others were wrestling, all while a good portion of the girls on the other side of the room stared wistfully.

He scanned the room, hoping to find any other boys who may be refraining from showing their bodies off in hopes that he could get some more practice at befriending in; one boy crossing the room also wore a blue onesie, although his appeared to have the icon of Pumpkin Pete on the front rather than match the design of Logan’s. The boy caught the eye of a girl across the room and beamed at her. Logan wondered if he was trying to flirt with someone so early in their educations.

Before he could continue studying the encounter, he felt a presence, and he turned to see a boy in a cat onesie sitting on his knees next to him. The stranger grinned and waved at him.

“Hi!”

Logan blinked. “Hello. Are you trying to learn how to make friends, as well?”

“Huh? Oh, I dunno. I think I kind of already know how. I just wanted to tell you I like your onesie!” the boy replied. “It looks so comfortable! Is it a unicorn?”

He looked him over and paused. “Yes, and it appears yours is a feline of some sort… Are you wearing a cloak underneath your pajamas?”

The boy’s eyes widened, but he shook himself out of the surprise and smiled. “Nah, just the part that goes around my neck. The cape detaches. I don’t like not wearing this part.” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Patton!”

“Hello, Patton. I’m Logan.” They shook hands, and the boy- Patton -adjusted his glasses.

“Do you not know how to make friends?” he asked.

Logan flinched. “Is it that obvious?”

“Oh! No, not at all!” Patton quickly corrected. “You just said- it sounded like you’re trying to learn.”

“Ah. It is true that I am… somewhat lacking in the communication department, so to speak,” he replied. “I have been trying to befriend others all day, as an attempt to be prepared for when I meet my teammates tomorrow, but so far, I have only been successful once…”

Patton’s face lit up. “Teammates?”

“Yes, teammates. Are you unaware of the routines of Beacon Academy?”

He paused. “What do you mean?”

Logan stopped. “What do you mean?”

“Can we go back to the teammate thing?” Patton asked, bouncing on his knees. “We get teammates?!”

“Well, yes. I thought it was common knowledge at this point,” Logan responded.

“Oh. I don’t really know much about Beacon, or any combat schools, really,” Patton informed. “I was only in fighting classes growing up. I didn’t go to a school for fighting. It was just an after school program.”

Logan raised his eyebrows. “And you made it into Beacon?”

Tilting his head, Patton frowned. “Is that not normal?”

“Well… I’m unaware. I also didn’t attend a fighting school, per se, but my Father and Stepmother are both well trained. I’ve been training from them my whole life. All of my academics came from them, really. But as far as I know, most people here have been training for years at a school of some sort.”

“Huh…” Patton beamed at him. “Maybe we’re just special!”

Chuckling, Logan shook his head. “Well, we’re no Silver-Eyed Warriors, but perhaps our uncommon backgrounds are enough to make us stand out.”

“What’s a Silver-Eyed Warrior?”

He frowned. “Have you never heard of that?” Logan asked. When Patton shook his head, he furrowed his brow. “It’s a legend my mother used to tell me when I was very little. Nothing more than a fairytale, really. The story goes that those born with silver eyes have a special power that dates way before Huntsmen and Huntresses, and even the Kingdoms of Remnant. It’s powerful enough that even Grimm would run in fear at a single look from them.”

“Whoa…,” Patton breathed. “That’s incredible!”

“Yes, but it’s nothing but a myth. There’s no truth behind it,” Logan corrected. “Logically, even if it was true, it was probably nothing more than a hereditary semblance. They’re rare, but they do exist… Do most people not learn of this legend growing up?”

Patton whined, ignoring Logan’s last question. “Aw… I wish I had silver eyes.”

Logan shot him a glance. “What for? Wouldn’t you rather have a semblance that’s all your own and unique rather than one based on an outdated myth? I thought that was the general consensus.”

All at once, Patton’s positive energy seemed to disappear. His shoulders curled in a bit; the smile dropped from his face. He turned to look at the ground, and a smile seemed to attempt to force its way back.

“Ah… right,” he laughed. “Of course. Um. I think I need to go to bed.”

Logan blinked. “Are you sure? We have much more we can discuss if you don’t wish to talk about semblances.”

“Yeah, I’m- I’m sure. Big day tomorrow and all, gotta have our rest!”

He stood, patting Logan on the shoulder and starting to hurry in a different direction. As he went, he sent him a friendly wave.

“See you in the morning, Logan!”

Slightly deflating, Logan frowned, unable to figure out why Patton had suddenly given him a cold shoulder. “Good night, Patton,” he softly replied.

He sat in silence for a few minutes before taking off his glasses and laying down. Patton did have a point; tomorrow was initiation, and Logan didn’t want to be tired for it.

By the time Virgil came back, Logan was snoring softly.


	2. Meet & Greet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Initiation is here. It’s time to pick your partner for the next four years. Sometimes, what you want isn’t what you get.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes here: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/170393368693/prvl-v1c2-meet-greet-behind-the-scenes

It came sooner than any of them were really anticipating.

One minute, they were at home, packing up, getting ready to say goodbye to their families or friends, and the next thing they knew, they were standing on launching pads, ready to be shot into the Emerald Forest for initiation at Beacon Acadamy. Each of the students stood nervously, fidgeting amonst themselves or talking to the student next to them. Some stayed silent or perfectly still.

Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch approached the front, and all eyes fell on them. Ozpin took a drink from his mug before addressing the students.

“Good morning,” he said. “I trust you are all well-rested for today. I’m sure the ballroom floor was at its maximum comfort levels for the new arrivals.”

Roman rolled his eyes, looking at the cute boy standing next to him. “Please, more like maximum _dis_ comfort. I didn’t get nearly enough beauty sleep.”

“I can tell,” the boy chuckled.

Whatever Ozpin was saying, it fell deaf on Roman’s ears as he raised his eyebrows at the boy. “Excuse me?”

He laughed softly. “Kidding. I can’t imagine what you’d look like if you _did_ have your beauty sleep. I’m sure I’d be dead by now.”

Smirking, Roman looked over the forest. “Oh, trust me, my looks are drop dead gorgeous.”

The boy laughed again. “I’m Lloyd.”

“Roman.”

Lloyd smiled at him, and then his eyes turned to Ozpin. Roman did the same.

“For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest,” Ozpin said.

Patton looked at the grass below them. “Ohhh, so _that’s_ what this place is called,” he breathed.

Glynda looked up from her scroll. “Now, I’m sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignments of teams,” she stated. “Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates. Today.”

Logan glanced down the line at Patton, whose face lit up.

“These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon,” Ozpin continued, “So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well.”

Virgil swallowed thickly.

“That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years.”

Quiet chaos erupted amongst the students.

“What?!”

“See?! I told you!”

Logan and Virgil looked at each other with wide eyes. Patton bit his lip and looked around. Roman rolled his eyes and looked at Lloyd.

“I’ll bet the shock factor is the only reason he still does this,” he mumbled.

“After you’ve partnered up, make your way to the northern part of the forest,” Ozpin continued. “You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path, or you will die. You will be monitered and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?”

The boy at the end raised his hand. “Yeah, um, sir-”

“Good! Now take your positions.”

Virgil held the end of his pole in front of him. Logan clutched his book tighter in his hands. Patton lifted his shield in front of him.

Flexing, Roman fluttered his wings and smirked at Lloyd. “I’m always in position to fly.”

Lloyd let out a sharp laugh and crouched. “I’m sure you are, pretty boy. Now, let’s see what this forest has in store for us.”

The tile beneath Lloyd launched him into the air. Roman beamed.

“Whatever it is, I’m ready.”

The tile shot up beneath him. One by one, all of the students were in the air.

Initiation had begun.

* * *

 

A soft battle cry echoed through the woods as Patton hid behind his shield, letting it take the brunt of the branches smashing into him. Each vibration knocked him a little more disoriented until he hit the ground, sliding through the grass as if he was on a sled in the snow. When he finally slowed to a stop, he bumped against a tree, and he looked up.

He was completely alone.

Slowly, he got to his feet, brushing the dirt and grass off of him and his shield. He adjusted his cloak to make sure it was around his throat, and then he let out a breath and beamed.

“Well,” he said, “That wasn’t so-”

A black blur slammed into him, and he yelped as he hit the ground.

* * *

 

Logan smashed through the treetops, throwing his book towards a branch and gripping the strap as it unraveled out of the pages. The book wrapped around one of the limbs, and Logan swung. He yanked the strap at the right angle to bring his book back to him just as he hit the ground and rolled.

Standing up, he brushed his shirt and the cover free of dirt, and started to walk through the trees.

* * *

 

Flapping his wings just slowly enough to stay back with Lloyd, Roman did a little twirl just above the treeline. “Bet you wish you had wings like me right now!”

Lloyd fell through the leaves, leaping off of a branch to meet Roman’s eyeline again. “Nah,” he said, going back down again. “I much prefer… Jumping around… Like this.”

“Oh, really, Mr. Primary Colors?” Roman retorted. “Well, you’ve definitely got the legs for it…”

Lloyd laughed, smirking at Roman. “You know, Roman,” he began, “You’re… Very charming.”

He fought back a blush. “Oh, I know! I have the wit for it, do I not?”

“Definitely. I would… Be very attracted to you…”

He went down, and Roman punched the air in glory, doing a little flip. He quickly recollected himself as the boy came back up.

“…If I wasn’t ace,” Lloyd finished.

“What?”

Before anything else could be said, Roman hit something hard and fell through the treetops. Branch after branch collided with him, and he tucked his wings tightly into his body.

“Hickedus Fickidus, I’m-!”

Roman smashed into the ground.

“…Getting sick of this.”

A groan sounded below him, and with a yelp, Roman shot to his feet. He pointed at the boy.

“Y-You! Scared the heck out of me!” he exclaimed.

Groaning again, the boy sat up and rubbed his head. “I scared you?” he asked. “Falling on top of me like that would have killed me, had I not had a lot of practice with using my aura.”

Roman glared and crossed his arms. “Well, perhaps, then, you should watch where you’re going!”

The boy rolled his eyes and picked up his book, standing up and adjusting his glasses. “If you recall, you were the one who fell on top of me,” he dryly stated. He stuck out his hand. “My name is Logan.”

Raising an eyebrow, Roman scoffed. “What’s the introduction for, nerd?”

Logan blinked. “Is it not a requirement that we exchange names, despite the fact that we are to be partners for the next four years?”

“What are you…”

It clicked.

Eye contact.

Partners.

Roman groaned.

“I cannot believe this!” he exclaimed. “I have to be partners with a _nerd_ for my time at Beacon?! This _can’t_ be happening!”

“Well, this is in fact reality,” Logan replied, letting his hand fall to his side. “As far as I’m aware, we are not under the influence of any hallucinatory semblances or drugs.”

Glaring, Roman looked him up and down. “You know you’re at Beacon Academy, right? Not the School of Scientific Geeks?”

“Of course I do. It’s why I’m here.”

“Where is your weapon? Hm?” Roman snapped. “All you’ve got is that book!”

Logan glanced at it. “This _is_ my weapon. Sure, it may not be as extravagant as a sword or a bow and arrow, but I find it is what I much prefer over anything else. See, when you pull this back-”

“Yes, yes, when you pull back the cover, you get words, and knowledge is power, blah blah blah.”

He frowned. “That’s… not what I…”

“You know, a _real_ Hunter wouldn’t use that as their weapon,” Roman shot. “Real Huntsmen and Huntresses use real weapons. Not their minds. You can’t kill a Grimm by throwing equations at it!”

Logan finally glared at him. “Of course I know that. I’m not stupid.”

“Oh, really? Well, you certainly fooled me.”

“I will have you know I come from a long line of expert Hunters and Huntresses!”

“So did I. You’re not special.”

Logan laughed. “You clearly know nothing about me.”

“And you, nothing about me!” Roman shot back.

“A correct accusation, considering you still haven’t even told me your name!” Logan exclaimed.

Roman stepped back, a faux shock plastered on his face. “You mean you’ve never heard of me?”

He crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow. “Why would I have heard of you?”

“Not even my siblings?”

“Who are your siblings?”

Roman scoffed and turned away, walking in a seemingly random direction. “I won’t stand for this. I will ask Ozpin immediately for a new partner as soon as we have completed this mission.”

Logan’s fists balled up, and they raised to either side of his face. “Will you please just tell me your name?!”

He whirled around. “Fine! It’s Roman! Are you happy?!”

Hands falling, the air of calm returned around Logan. “Yes. Thank you, Roman. I believe we need to hurry to find these relics before we are attacked by Grimm.”

As he walked past, Roman rolled his eyes. “Please, why would they attack us?”

Logan stopped and glared, raising an eyebrow at him. “Seriously? Are you unaware that Grimm are naturally attracted to negative energy?”

“Of course I know that!” Roman snapped. “Are you saying I’m a Negative Nancy?!”

“Well, we just met and we are already arguing,” Logan pointed out, adjusting his glasses. “I would assume that if nothing changes, we will have Grimm on us the entire way there and back.”

“Are you implying that I hate you? I have said no such thing!”

“I never stated that. I’m only basing this on how my emotions are towards you.”

Roman gasped; Logan glared again and walked off. Reluctantly, he followed after his partner.

* * *

 

As Virgil flew through the air, he very carefully held his pole in front of him, scanning the ground for a good place to land. Explosions and gunfire around him threatened to distract him, but he blocked them out with ease. If he could land this, he could get a move on and find Logan before anyone else found him…

A black dot on the ground caught his eye, and he smirked. He aimed himself towards it, holding his pole out at a very specific angle and praying he had his aim right.

The pole sunk into the back of the bear-shaped creature, and Virgil used the momentum to safely reach the ground and roll. Once on his feet, he pulled a trigger on his weapon, and a gunshot fired through the Ursa Grimm. Immediately, it began to dissolve; Virgil yanked his pole out of it and started sprinting in the direction he thought he saw Logan disappear in.

_Gotta find Logan_ , he thought, _gotta make sure he’s not with a stranger, gotta help him out…_

A scream in the distance started coming near him; he cursed and tried to run faster.

_Logan Logan Logan Logan Logan Logan Logan Lo-_

The screaming body slammed into him, and the two fell to the ground. Virgil saw stars; the other person got up, apologizing profusely. He opened his eyes, seeing a glasses clad face in front of him.

“Logan?”

He blinked the stars away. This boy was dressed in blue… but not dark blue. His cloak flapped in the wind as he stared at Virgil with wide eyes.

Eye contact.

Partners.

Virgil cursed under his breath.

The other boy started jumping up and down. “We’re partners!” he exclaimed. “Oh, my goodness, this is so exciting! Hi! I can’t believe this!”

Virgil climbed to his feet. “Neither can I,” he sighed.

“Oh, man, it’s so great to meet you! I’ve been wondering all day who my teammates are gonna be, and now you and I have met, and we’re gonna be partners for the next four years! Isn’t that exciting?!”

No. “Sure.”

“And we don’t even know each other’s names! Oh, we have to introduce ourselves! Well, my name is-!”

Before the boy could utter another word, the arm of a Beowolf Grimm came out of nowhere and knocked him away. Virgil yelped and swung his pole at it; it dodged and threw its claws towards him. Quickly, he ducked under it and charged forward, pole held in front of him. It stabbed it through its middle, and it screeched and thrashed. Virgil lost his grip on his weapon and was thrown away, rolling next to his new partner.

“Oh, my goodness, are you okay?!”

Virgil growled and stood. “I’m fine,” he snapped. “Give me a hand, would you, partner?!”

The boy’s eyes lit up as if he was looking at the stars. “I’d love to, partner! I’ll distract it while you grab your big stick thingy!”

The Grimm started to charge at them; Virgil pointed at it, eyebrows raised.

“Better make it quick!”

The two dove in opposite directions, and Virgil watched the boy wave his arms in the air. “Hey! Hey, over here! C’mere, puppy!”

Virgil frowned. “Puppy?”

The Beowolf turned towards the boy, who started patting his legs. “Ohh, look at you!” he cooed. “Such a cutie! Yeah, come here! Come here!”

It started to charge; Virgil sprinted forward and grabbed the half of his pole that was sticking out of its back. Just before it sliced at the boy with its claws, Virgil swung his arms, and the Beowulf flew off of the pole and through the trees. After it smashed into a trunk, Virgil aimed the end of his pole towards it and fired as many shots as he thought necessary for it to die.

In the distance, it began to dissolve. Virgil let out a sigh of relief and turned to look at the boy.

“A puppy?” he asked. “Really?”

Before he said anything else, he held out his hand. “Patton!”

He furrowed his brow, shaking his head. “Are you kidding me? You almost just got slaughtered by a freaking Beowolf and you’re not… terrified or anything?”

“Nope!”

Virgil narrowed his eyes. “Wh- Who _are_ you?”

“Patton! Did you not hear me a second ago?” he asked. Hand falling, his eyebrows raised. “Oh! Or did I not say it out loud? That happens sometimes.”

“No- you-” Groaning, Virgil turned and started to walk off. “Let’s just get this over with and find the relics.”

Patton ran to catch up, walking backwards to look at Virgil. “What’s your name? Did I miss you telling me?”

“No. It’s Virgil.”

“Ooh, Virgil! That’s a nice name!” Patton exclaimed. “Where are you from?”

Virgil huffed. “Mistral.”

“Cool! I’ve never been there! What’s it like? I’ve never left Vale before. Is it like Vale?”

“Don’t know. Never been here before coming to Beacon.”

“Did you go to combat school?” Patton asked. “There was a guy that I met last night, and he said that most people-”

Virgil whipped around, pointing the end of his pole at Patton; Patton screamed and threw up his shield. Shots fired past Patton’s head, and loud, pained growls echoed behind him.

Slowly, he looked up to see Virgil continuing on as if nothing had happened. When Patton turned around, he saw a Boarbatusk Grimm dissolving behind him.

He looked back to Virgil.

“Aw, geez,” he softly called, “Did you really need to kill it? It wasn’t hurting us…”

“If you had stopped talking long enough to pay attention to the world around you, you would have seen it coming after us,” Virgil snapped. “Focus on the mission at hand, would you?”

Patton flinched and hurried after him.

* * *

 

The sword slashed through the Ursa with great ease as Roman let out a mighty battle cry; he kicked the two halves away as they began to dissolve. Standing over what was left, he let a proud grin form on his face.

“That eight for me, four for you,” he stated. “Looks like I’m winning.”

Logan groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “For the last time, this is not a competition,” he growled. “We are here to find the temple, get the relic, and go back, _not_ kill every single Grimm we come across!”

Putting his sword back in its sheath, Roman rolled his eyes. “You can’t deny this makes it more fun.”

“I _can_ deny you’re wasting time and putting us in unnecessary danger.”

“There’s no such thing as dangerous if you know how to fight,” he retorted.

Logan threw his hands in the air. “Blatantly untrue!”

Roman scoffed and started to walk away again. “Whatever. You’re just jealous that I’m winning.”

A growl formed in Logan’s throat, but he took a deep breath and held it back. As he walked after him, all that he could think about was how no amount of practice in befriending others could have prepared him for _this_. He found himself wishing he’d been paired up with Virgil, or Patton. Whoever they had been paired with, he hoped they were nice to them.

Ahead, he heard Roman let out another battle cry and draw his sword; shots fired, and the roars of a Beowolf echoed through the trees.

“Aha! Nine! Better try to catch up, Specs!”

Logan huffed and looked at the sky. The sun was nearing its peak.

“Roman,” he hollered, “We need to hurry. I’m sure many of the other students have made it back by now.”

“What’s that? I couldn’t hear you over the sound of me killing number ten!”

He growled as he listened to Roman grunting and whooping.

“Eleven!”

“Roman!”

“Twelve!”

“Roman, come _on!_ ”

Silence fell. Logan began to grow concerned. Had a Grimm made Roman its first kill of the day?

The sound of flapping wings caught his attention, and then Roman was flying directly towards him at an incredible speed. Logan hardly had the time to flinch, let alone duck; he prepared for a crash similar to the one they’d met each other during, but instead, Roman hooked his arms underneath his armpits and launched them into the sky. Logan’s heart dropped into his stomach.

“What are you doing?!” he shrieked.

Laughing, Roman replied, “You’re the one who’s so intent on getting to the relic in little time, so we’re going to fly there!”

The world spun beneath Logan’s feet. “This is dangerous!”

“Please, there’s no Grimm up here! We’re fine!”

“I’m not talking about that, I’m talking about-!”

A squawk pierced the air, and Logan snapped his head up to see the most gigantic Nevermore he’d ever seen circling over the forest not too far away. His eyes widened, and he began to squirm.

“Roman- Roman-”

He spluttered. “Gah- What’s the- the big deal?!”

“Nevermore, Roman! There’s-!”

“It’s in the- distance! We- are- fine!”

Logan’s hand collided with Roman’s face, who instinctively reached up to touch the mark; he realized his mistake a moment too late as Logan’s arms slipped from his grasp and he began to plummet. In a desperate attempt not to fall, Logan threw his book at him, strap unravelling. Roman grabbed it and held on tight.

“Roman, pull me up!” he yelled.

He rolled his eyes. “Please, calm down,” he sighed. “I’ll just lower you to the ground. It’s not a big deal.”

“Not a big-?! Do you see how high up we are?! What if you drop me?! What if I fall?!”

“I will not drop you!” he snapped, glaring at him. “Even if I did, there’s a river below you. You’ll land perfectly safe.”

Logan glowered. “I will not be perfectly safe!” he shouted. “I can’t swim!”

“What? Am I hearing you confess that you actually _don’t_ know everything?!”

“Roman, that’s ridiculous, it is impossible for someone to know everything.”

“Are you sure? Because that’s how you’ve been acting all day!”

The glare deepened, and Roman could hear a growl bubbling up in his partner’s throat before his eyes widened and he jerked. “Roman- Roman, I’m slipping-”

He huffed. “ _Fine_ , I’ll take you to the ground.”

“Roman, hurry!”

“Relax!”

“Roman!”

“Do you want me to take you down or-?!”

Before the rest of his sentence could leave his mouth, the weight pulling down the book suddenly lifted, and a cry of his name began to descend towards the ground. Roman watched Logan fall with a grumpy glare.

“Well, this is just _perfect!_ ”

Hooking the bookstrap over his sword’s handle, Roman dove towards the river.


	3. Like A Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuing their initiation, the new partners deal with the consequences of arguing- negative emotions, yes, but mostly Grimm. Lots of Grimm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes here: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/170777246913/prvl-v1c3-like-a-game-behind-the-scenes
> 
> Chapter Warnings: Arguing, violence, graphic depictions of Grimm killings

“Roman!”

“I’m coming!”

“Roman, help!”

“I’m trying- what do you want me to do?!”

Logan went under the current again, and Roman let out a panicked huff, flapping his wings a little faster to keep up with the river flow. Okay, so maybe he didn’t want to partner with Logan, but that didn’t mean he wanted to kid to _drown_. Frantically, he kept his eyes out for something or someone that could help-

Aha!

“Hey!” he yelled, swooping away from the river. “Excuse me, could you give me a hand?!”

The two students looked at him, raising an eyebrow each. “What’s up?” the girl asked.

Roman stopped and hovered in front of them. “Well- See, my partner and I were arguing, and he fell into the river, and I can’t swim because of my wings and _he_ can’t swim for some reason and I’m not really-!”

Before he could fully process what was happening, the boy was gone, and he heard a splash behind him. Roman and the girl hurried over and watched as he pulled Logan to the surface, grabbing his glasses when they started to float away.

“Thamir, be careful!” the girl shouted.

Roman paused, watching as the boy- Thamir -struggled to carry himself and Logan to the bank. “You… have a very selfless partner,” he muttered.

She sprinted over to where they met the ground and grabbed onto Logan, pulling him up while Thamir climbed up on his own. Logan sat with all four limbs on the ground and coughed violently; Thamir patted him on the back and set his glasses next to his hand.

“It’s okay,” he soothed, “You’re okay.”

As soon as Logan could breathe again, he looked up and shot the strongest glare he could muster towards the blur with wings standing nearby. “I told you that was dangerous!” he snapped.

Roman let out a scoff and waved his hand. “Whatever. You wouldn’t have fallen if you had been squirming so much.”

“You dragged me into the sky without my consent. Do _not_ try to place the blame on me.”

“It’s not my fault you panicked over seeing a Nevermore in the distance.”

“Did you see the size of it?!”

“I did, and it changes nothing! I could have slaughtered that beast within minutes!”

Logan got to his feet, shoving the glasses onto his face to better witness the arrogant facial expression lying on Roman’s features. “Oh, so you could waste more time for the pointless competition you’ve been trying to start with me all day?!”

Thamir and the girl stood, looking at each other with wide eyes.

“Well, uh…” Thamir coughed, avoiding eye contact with either of the two. “I think Calanthe and I need to get going… It was nice meeting you two.”

The two briskly walked back into the forest, but not without Logan’s eyes glued to Thamir’s back. Something bubbled up inside him- just what it was, Logan couldn’t figure out, but he could tell it was a negative emotion.

A negative emotion that Roman was to blame for.

He glowered at him. “Great job,” he growled.

Roman’s mouth opened and shut like a fish out of water. “What- I- Are you trying to blame that on _me?!_ You’re the one who drove them off without even saying thank you to the boy for saving your life!”

Ah. That explained the gnawing in his gut. Logan felt his face flush as he swallowed back vomit.

“I wouldn’t have had to thank him for anything if you hadn’t have dropped me out of the sky!”

“Again, that wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t have squirmed!”

“I wouldn’t have squirmed if you hadn’t picked me up in the first place!”

“I wouldn’t have picked you up if you hadn’t have been so impatient and moody!”

“Falsehood!” Logan screamed.

Roman growled and turned, storming into the forest. “It’s thanks to _you_ I’ll have to give up on my dreams of ever being on a team as great as Team BYRD! None of this would be happening if you hadn’t have gotten in my way in the first place!”

His blood boiled. “ _You_ were the one who fell on top of _me_!”

The only response he got was Roman turning and throwing Logan’s book at him as hard as he could; it slammed into his chest, knocking him back a step as he watched Roman continue on without saying another word. Logan let out a scream of anger before stomping after him.

* * *

It was getting harder and harder for Patton to stay cheerful.

Every Grimm that they saw, be it attacking them or not, Virgil killed it. Every. Single. One. He wouldn’t talk to Patton unless asked a question, either, unless he was snapping at him for doing something wrong. Patton couldn’t figure out why he hated him so much.

With every step he took, he felt his hands getting colder. He swallowed thickly and buried them in his pockets.

Virgil slowed to a stop, gripping his pole tightly. Patton stopped, too, but he tried to make himself as small as possible to stay out of the way. He didn’t want to kill Grimm. Virgil did. He didn’t want his new partner to hate him this early, so he didn’t say anything.

It was day one and he was already miserable.

Virgil sprinted forward, and Patton looked up to watch him swing his pole at a large Ursa. It blocked the attack with its paw and used the other to swing at him; he ducked and rolled backwards before aiming the end at it and firing a few shots. The Ursa ignored them and fought on.

They kept fighting. Patton chewed on his lip.

“Uh… Virgil?”

Virgil knocked the Ursa’s paw away again. “ _What_ , Patton?”

As he dodged another attack and hit it on the back, Patton shifted his weight between his feet. “Do we really have to kill every Grimm we see?”

Virgil blocked a hit; they both struggled to overpower the other. “If we… don’t kill them,” he hissed, “they’ll kill…. Someone else. It’s precautionary!”

He shoved the Ursa a few feet back. The cold in Patton’s hands started to go away.

“You don’t know that,” he replied.

“Yes, I do,” Virgil snapped. He charged at the Grimm, adding, “Do _you_?”

Patton crossed his arms. “I know hurting people and animals is wrong.”

“These aren’t animals, Patton, they’re monsters!” he yelled, shooting a few more shots at it. “What would you know, anyway? You’re nothing but a child!”

“I am not!”

“Please, your shield is decorated to look like a cookie!”

Patton felt his hands grow warm. “What’s wrong with being a child at heart?”

Virgil jumped, digging his pole into the ground to steady himself as he kicked the Grimm in the chest and made it roll away. He turned and glared at Patton. “Do you understand what we’re becoming Hunters for?! Grimm are _monsters_ , Patton! They kill people! They deserve to suffer!”

“No one deserves to suffer!” Patton yelled back.

Virgil turned to where the Grimm was laying on the ground and lifted his hand; it started to glow a dark purple, and the Ursa began to do the same. Within seconds, it was screaming and writhing, as if it was in immense pain. Patton felt his heart break.

“What are you doing?!”

“Making it suffer,” Virgil growled.

Patton’s fists were on fire. He charged.

“ _Stop!_ ”

The next thing Virgil knew, he was rolling across the ground with a heavy weight on top of him; he struggled to get it off, but hot hands caught him off guard as they burned his skin, and he was overpowered. He looked up to see Patton glowering down at him as he pinned him to the ground.

“What are you doing?!” Virgil snapped.

“It doesn’t deserve that!” Patton screamed. “No one deserves to hurt, not even monsters!”

There was a roar nearby, and Virgil felt his heart skip a beat as he watched the Ursa charge towards them.

“Patton-!”

His partner lifted his fists; Virgil’s eyes widened when he saw flames engulfing them. When the Ursa got close, Patton released a heavy punch on its stomach, and it flew across the clearing to slam into a tree. The hot hands landed on his shoulders again while Virgil watched the Grimm begin to dissolve.

Virgil looked back to Patton with wide, frightened eyes. Immediately, the glare wiped off of his face, and the hot hands turned ice cold.

“O-Oh, gosh,” Patton whimpered.

He yanked his hands back, tears starting to fill into his eyes. His breathing quickened, and he began to shake as he covered his mouth. Virgil frowned.

“Patton…?”

“I- I- I’m s-so sorry,” he stuttered. “I’m so- I shouldn’t- Oh, goodness…”

Virgil tried to sit up, but he didn’t move; when he looked down, he saw his shoulders encased in ice, trapping him to the ground. He glanced to where Patton was sitting on his abs and saw a similar situation.

Sobs pulled him away from his thoughts, and he looked up as tears started to fall from Patton’s eyes, freezing into ice crystals by the time they hit his chest. Patton wrapped his arms around himself and turned his face away.

“I’m so sorry,” he whimpered again.

Virgil swallowed. “Patton, it’s… It’s alright, man. Are you okay…?”

He whined and covered his face with his hands. “I’m not supposed to use my semblance, I know, I’m so sorry!”

“What? Patton, it’s combat school. We’re _supposed_ to use them. Why would you be an exception to that?”

Slowly, Patton pulled his hands away from his face and looked at Virgil. “But- I- I thought…”

“Thought what?” Virgil asked.

Patton fell silent, giving the grass a thousand-yard stare. Virgil watched him for a moment.

“Patton?”

His mouth formed a grimace as he shoved his hands over his face again. “I’m so sorry!”

Guilt gnawed in Virgil’s gut. “No… Patton, I should be the one apologizing. I didn’t get paired up with my friend and have been a total jerk about that all day. It’s not your fault you got stuck with a villain like me. I’m sorry.”

Patton pulled his hands away, shaking his head. “I should be apologizing to _you_ for that. You’re not a villain.”

Virgil felt water trickling down around him, and he looked to see the ice starting to melt. With one strong jerk, he broke his shoulders out, and Patton moved to sit on his legs as he punched the ice off of his stomach. Sitting up, Virgil and Patton pulled away from each other and simply sat and looked at their partner.

Virgil took a deep breath. “Do you think we could start over?”

Patton rubbed his eyes free of tears and nodded. He held out his hand. “I’m Patton.”

“I’m Virgil.” He took it and smiled at him. “Glad to meet you.”

A smile started to form on Patton’s lips. “Welcome to Vale,” he laughed.

Virgil chuckled and climbed to his feet, stepping past Patton to pick up his pole. “We need to keep going,” he pointed out. “Those relics aren’t going to find themselves.”

Patton frowned and sniffled, looking through the trees. “Didn’t Professor Oscar say they were in an abandoned temple?”

“Professor Ozpin, but yeah.”

He pointed. “Would it look like that?”

Following his finger, Virgil saw what he was referring to: just over a hill, fallen columns and walls stood over a stone circle. Short stone podiums were arranged around the edge, and each had something indistinguishable sitting on top.

“Huh,” Virgil muttered.

“Do you think those are the relics?” Patton asked.

Virgil looked at him and shrugged. “Maybe,” he replied.

He held out his hand, and Patton grabbed it and pulled himself up. Virgil could feel he was still trembling.

“Are you alright?” he said.

Throwing a smile on his face, Patton nodded. “Of course! I’m always alright!”

Virgil shot him a skeptical look, but wrapped an arm around his shoulders to guide them towards the temple.

“Whatever you say, partner.”

* * *

“Roman, I think we’re lost.”

It was the first thing either of them had said in what felt like hours. Roman stopped and whipped around, glaring at his partner.

“Oh, and you would know?” he snapped.

Logan’s jaw clenched. “Yes. We’re heading east. We’re supposed to be going north.”

Crossing his arms, Roman held back the urge to punch the know-it-all right in his specs. “Well, I’d go check, but I can’t fly without your consent, can I?”

“Did I say that you needed my permission to use your wings? I don’t recall making such statements.”

Sucking in a breath, Roman held a fist in the air, willing himself to keep it to his side. “You… Are absolutely _insufferable_!”

“Yes, I’m aware,” Logan growled. “You’ve made your views very clear in how you’ve been treating me all day.”

“And yet, you’ve done nothing to make anything better!”

“I don’t believe that’s my responsibility.”

“It’s not my fault you’re a pretentious, feeling-less robot!”

“Emotionless.”

“What?”

“The word is emotionless. Not feeling-less,” Logan corrected. “Neither of which apply to me, anyhow. I have as vast a range of emotions as you do. I just don’t understand the need to be so dramatic when things don’t go my way.”

Roman gasped, blood boiling. “I am _not_ dramatic!”

“Falsehood.”

Spluttering, he jabbed a finger into Logan’s chest. “I couldn’t ever have dreamed of having such an awful partner as you!”

“I suppose the feeling is mutual,” he snapped.

Roman gasped, throwing his fists to his side. “I cannot believe I have to deal with you for four whole- What’s that noise?”

His head snapped to the side, looking into the bushes; Logan looked as well, but rolled his eyes after a beat.

“There’s nothing there,” he huffed. “You’re just- big surprise -being dramat-”

Roman shushed him, drawing his sword and keeping his eyes glued to the noise.

Silence fell.

After a considerable number of seconds, Logan huffed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Roman, please, we truly are wasting-”

A loud hissing pierced their ears, and a King Taijitu Grimm burst out of the bushes, both mouths opened as they snapped towards them. Roman and Logan both screamed and dove in opposite directions.

“I _told_ you there was something!” Roman yelled.

“This is not the appropriate time to be discussing this!” he shot back.

Roman watched as Logan took his book in his two hands, and flinched when he appeared to start to rip his weapon down the middle; about halfway across the pages, what had detached now split in half and swung to either side, and Logan lifted his newly formed pistol to fire at the Grimm.

“What a design,” Roman breathed.

The King Taijitu launched at Logan, snapping Roman back into reality. He raised his sword and charged.

“Come here, you beast!” he cried.

He launched himself into the air and twirled around in a front flip, throwing his blade out and tearing its white scalp down the middle. It screeched and threw itself at him, but he dodged and hovered above Logan. Roman held the blade towards it and shot fire dust out of the handle.

“You’re _welcome_ ,” he called down.

The black head raised and snapped at Roman; flying forward, he spun and sliced at its neck over and over until the head fell to the ground and began to dissolve.

“Do you really need to be so reckless?” Logan snapped.

Just as Roman was about to make another comment, the white head whipped around and slammed its nose into his torso, throwing him back and knocking his sword away. Roman climbed to his feet, rubbing his head.

“Behind you!”

Roman turned just in time to see the Grimm dive at him, and he rolled out of the way just before it struck; in doing so, it slammed into a tree, the force enough to snap the trunk in half and towards Roman. He jumped into the air and went to fly out of the way, but something hit his wing, and he was pinned to the ground. He cried out in pain.

“Roman!”

A shadow fell. He craned his neck to look in front of him. Blood red eyes glared down at him. He put his head down and awaited the worst.

Nothing came.

Roman heard the grunts of a struggle. Cracking his eyes open, he looked up to see a brown strap and a blue book pulling against the Grimm. He frowned.

“Logan…?”

“Use your semblance!”

He blinked. “What?”

“Your semblance!” Logan screamed. “Create something! I’m not able to keep it back for longer than another minute!”

Quickly, Roman held is hands in the air as best he could and concentrated; a ball of light began to form, and then shift into the shape of a rapier sword. As soon as he was satisfied with the size, he thrust his hands forward, shoving the blade into the chest of the Grimm.

It screamed.

After a beat, the taught strap relaxed, and the King Taijitu fell. Roman could now see Logan as he panted, face a bright shade of red. They stared at each other while the sword and the Grimm slowly dissolved between them.

“You… saved me,” Roman finally said.

Logan frowned at him. “Yes,” he replied. “That is our job as Huntsmen, even if we are still in training. Arguments or not, if someone is in trouble, we help them. Is that not the case?”

Roman fell silent as Logan gathered his weapon and made his way over to him, wrapping the strap around the branch pinning him without a question. Roman swallowed thickly.

“I… I’ve never seen it that way,” he quietly admitted.

Logan shot him a glance. “Is there another way to look at it?”

“I mean- Well- No, I suppose,” he babbled. “I just- I guess I should have known that.” He sighed. “I suppose years of constantly competing with my siblings and idolizing Team BYRD has warped my perception on what it means to be a Hunter.”

Humming, Logan went back to tying his strap. “Is everyone in your family a Huntsman?” he asked.

Roman shifted. “Yes. Both of my parents and all of my siblings are all either quite accomplished or on our way to being so.”

Logan was quiet for a moment. “I would assume that means you’ve had quite a lot of pressure to do well, then.”

Turning his head the opposite direction, Roman sighed. “…Yes.”

“Which would explain your extraneous needs to… show off, so to speak.”

“Yes.”

Logan got to his feet and pulled at his strap, slowly lifting the branch just enough for Roman to pull his wing out from underneath. Immediately, the faunus sat up and began to run his hand over the scales.

“Is it alright?” Logan asked, letting the wood fall back to the ground.

Roman slowly nodded, guilt bubbling in his chest. “Yes.”

There was silence. Roman looked up to see Logan staring at him, features on his face indicating an emotion that Roman couldn’t describe.

“Are you?” Roman asked.

Pressing his lips together, Logan sunk to the ground, turning his eyes away. “Roman… I believe I owe you an apology for… the way I’ve acted today.”

“You?”

“Yes. I have had very little experience in making friends, but from what I have witnessed from others, the way I was trying was not correct,” he rambled. “I should have… tried to understand your emotions, even though I lack a real ability to process my own. I did not attempt to look at things from your perspective, only from my own. I am sorry.”

Shaking his head, Roman let his wing fall behind him. “You have done nothing wrong, Logan,” he replied. “I was the one acting like a royal brat all day. I shouldn’t have been so competitive. And you were not the only one who refused to pay attention to how the other was feeling. Truly, _I_ am the one who should be apologizing.” A dry laugh left his mouth. “After all, I was the one to fall on top of you and start this whole mess.”

A smile began to form on Logan’s lips; his eyes darted up to meet Roman’s, and just as quickly turned back away. “Roman, yesterday… Someone whom I believe I may have befriended told me that the key to making friends is to… ‘just talk’, as he put it,” he stated. “Would I be correct in assuming that is true?”

“Yes, of course. It’s impossible to be friends with someone without talking,” he answered. “Otherwise, you’d be nothing but acquaintances, passing without speaking day after day.”

“Um…” Logan hesitated, adjusting his glasses as he shifted. “Perhaps, then… It would be ideal for us to implement communication into our relationship,” he finally said. “It might make these next four years less cumbersome, despite your tendency to be competitive and my lack of social understanding.”

A smile lifted Roman’s lips as he let out a soft chuckle. “I’ll only implement communication as long as you remember to speak English every once in a while.”

Logan nodded slowly. “I can do what I can to remember that, but I’m autistic, so it might take some reminding to get me to do so.”

Roman’s eyebrows raised. “You have autism?”

“Yes, but I will still do my best to-”

“Why didn’t you say so earlier? I wouldn’t have yelled at you so much if I had known that!”

Logan scowled at him. “That is exactly why,” he shot back. “I don’t want to be treated any differently because my brain works differently than yours does. Accommodations are one thing, but being treated like a child or an accident waiting to happen is dehumanizing and I would like to get it across first thing that I do not wish to be treated as such. Do you understand?”

Blinking in surprise, Roman found himself nodding. “I… Of course,” he replied. “I didn’t mean for it to sound like I was planning on doing such.”

Logan flushed. “…Oh,” he muttered. “Then… I apologize. It’s been a very common experience for others to treat me with pity as soon as they find out. I was afraid I would have to spend my time here like that, as well, when one of the things I was looking forward to was an escape from such mannerisms.”

“Do your parents treat you that way?”

“No,” Logan said, “But most of the rest of my family does. Father and Esther are very good at respecting my needs without appearing sorry for me.”

Roman nodded. “Well, that’s very good to hear,” he responded. “Would you be willing to help me do the same? Call me out when I do things wrong and such?”

“Of course. I would be elated to be granted such an approbation, actually.” He stopped, squeezing his eyes shut. “I mean…”

Roman put a hand on his knee. “If trying not to speak like a talking dictionary is a problem, I am more than okay with looking up definitions later.”

Logan’s shoulders dropped in relief, and a small smile formed on his lips. “Thank you.”

“It is my pleasure. Now, come along,” Roman declared, climbing to his feet. “Those relics aren’t going to find themselves!”

Mirroring his actions, Logan brushed the dirt off of his pants. “Obviously not. They’re inanimate objects.”

“How would you know? Were you with Ozpin when he chose them?” Roman retorted, but there was no venom in his voice this time. He walked over and swiped his sword off of the ground as he looked back at Logan.

Logan shook his head, furrowing his brow. “Well… No, but I doubt he would use animals or Grimm of any sort for our very first mission at Beacon.”

“Logan, he threw us into a forest full of monsters and told us we were on our own. I don’t think he wants it to be easy.”

He nodded in understanding, watching as Roman walked past him and into the trees. “Well… We certainly gave him what he wanted.”

“And he can cut off my wings if he thinks he’s getting any more. Come on, Specs!”

Logan rolled his eyes with a smile and hurried after his partner.

* * *

Virgil frowned as they stepped onto the stone flooring, narrowing his eyes at the relics. “What are these…?”

Patton pulled away from him as he went to inspect one. “Chess pieces! And we’re the first ones here!” he said, eyes filled with wonder. “Do you think we’ll get to keep them?”

“Uh… I don’t know,” Virgil answered. He went to the side opposite that Patton was on. “Does it matter which one we take? ‘Cause I know nothing about chess. I do not want to get stuck with doing more work than we need to.”

Patton was silent; Virgil frowned and turned, watching the boy walk up to him with hands behind his back and a mischievous grin on his face.

“Patton…?”

“I don’t know about the pieces,” he said, “But I don’t think we need to…” He pulled a gold piece out from behind him. “… _Pawn_ -der this for long!”

He began to laugh; Virgil raised an eyebrow.

“Is that what that is…?” he asked.

“Yeah! This is a pawn!” Patton exclaimed. “It’s the least important piece in the game, so if they do matter, we won’t have to do much. Plus it’s easy to make a pun with!”

Rolling his eyes, Virgil nodded. “Yeah, alright. Let’s just get back to the cliff.”

He walked off of the platform and started to head back in the direction they came from; footsteps pattered up behind him, and then Patton was walking backwards to look at him.

“I wonder how things are going with the other teams?” he said.

Virgil let out a worried sigh, looking at the clouds above them. “Whatever’s happening, they’d better be good.”

* * *

“…And Anole is an absolute gentleman,” Roman continued as they started up a hill. “He’s the manliest of the four of us, if I have anything to say about it. A lot of people think that he’s the most charming, as well, but obviously those people must have never met me.”

“Anole is the youngest of you and your siblings, correct?” Logan asked.

“No, that’s me. Anole is a year older than I am. I’m sure you’ll see him around campus from time to time. Same with Trix, though this is her fourth year. I’m sure all of the professors are just itching to get her out of their hair.”

Logan hummed. “Is she troublesome?”

Barking out a laugh, Roman rolled his eyes. “Incredibly. She told me that when Torius still went here, they would frequently interrupt each other’s classes for sparring matches with each other.”

“Wouldn’t that disrupt the other students’ educations?”

“Exactly. They were suspended more than a couple of times, apparently.”

“That sounds horrible.”

Roman shrugged. “Yes, well, that is how we grew up. Didn’t you and your siblings have quirks and such?”

“Oh, I don’t have any siblings,” Logan quickly replied as they reached the top. “There were some… dangers, so to speak, after Mother and Father had me. As much as they had wanted other children, they didn’t want to risk anything. Even now, Father is afraid to have any children with Esther after all of that.”

Raising an eyebrow, Roman shot him a glance. “All of what? What could possibly be so dangerous about you to keep them from having any other kids?”

There was no reply. Instead, Logan pointed down the hill and turned to Roman.

“I believe this is the abandoned temple Professor Ozpin was referring to.”

Roman looked, and upon seeing the toppled pillars and cracks in the foundation in the afternoon light, assumed Logan was right. He beamed and started to run down the hill.

“Ah! Logan, we’ve almost completed our first mission at Beacon!” he cheered. “This is magnificent!”

“Wait- Wait for me!”

He stopped at the edge of the stone; as he waited for his partner to catch up, he looked around, seeing just a handful of chess pieces sitting on top of stone podiums. A frown etched onto his lips.

“Chess pieces? What, does he think this is a game?” he asked.

When Logan stood next to him, he let out a soft hum. “It… appears we are one of the last pairs to get here, considering how many students were sent into initiation with us.”

Roman flushed. “My bad…”

“It’s quite alright, Roman. I believe we have already settled these issues,” Logan said. “No need to bring them up again.”

Together, they walked onto the foundation, inspecting the pieces left; Roman let out a dramatic sigh when he saw that all of the knights were gone, and turned to look at Logan.

“Well, Lone Sibling, why don’t you pick which relic we take?” he offered. “To make up for my selfishness throughout the day.”

Logan took a long moment to look around the temple, but eventually walked over and picked up a gold piece. He held it up and looked to Roman for approval, who held back the many insults that came to mind.

“If a pawn is what you would like,” he said instead, “Then that is what we shall return with.”

Smiling, Logan nodded. “I think it would be the most ideal.”

Roman let out a soft sigh before turning and heading towards the direction they came from. “Okay, we’ve got the relic, now let’s head back and hope we don’t run into any more Grimm. I don’t want to be the last ones to return.”

“Well, there are still a few pieces left. I don’t think we need to worry about that.”

He slowed himself to wait for Logan to be at his side. “You know how we’ll be teaming up with another set of partners to make a full set of four?”

Logan paused. “I think I recall reading something like that, yes. What about it?”

“Did you notice that the other white pawn was missing?””

“Yes.”

“That means the other half of our team has already been here.”

“Yes. Is this new information for you?”

Roman rolled his eyes. “What do you think they’re like?”

Memories of black eyeshadow and a cat onesie popped into his head. “I… think I know exactly what I want them to be like.”

He nodded. “As do I… And exactly what I _don’t_ want them to be like.”

“I suppose all we can do is ponder and hope for right now,” Logan said.

Roman smiled. “Dreaming is what I do best.”


	4. A Bump In The Road

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> All that Patton wants is for their team to be a family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/171023077683/prvl-v1c4-a-bump-in-the-road-bts
> 
> Chapter Warnings: arguing, faunus discrimination, mentions of death

By the time Logan and Roman made it back to the top of the cliff, the majority of the students were back. Logan felt his skin crawl at the chaos around them.

“Do you think our teammates are back yet?” he asked.

Roman barked out a laugh. “Of course! They reached the temple before us, didn’t they? Why wouldn’t-?”

“Logan!”

The two turned in time to see Virgil hurry away from the crowd, Patton hot on his heels; all four stopped when they realized who the other was with.

“You’re partnered with _him?_ ” four voices asked in unison.

Four sets of eyes blinked in shock before turning to look at their partner, then to each member of the other pair.

Virgil was the first to find his voice, looking at Patton. “How do you know those two?”

“Well… I met Logan last night!” he exclaimed. “He was wearing a unicorn onesie, and I thought it was really cool, so I went over and told him, and he asked if I was trying to learn how to make friends, and I said no, and-”

“Patton, get on with it!” Roman said.

His flinch didn’t go unnoticed. “And I met Roman on the ship! He and his siblings were really kind to me and let me stay with them until the opening ceremony since things were a little overwhelming!”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Yeah, sure, a kind faunus. I’m _sure_ they were great to you.”

Patton winced again; Roman gritted his teeth.

“Well, _Patton,_ I’m incredibly sorry you’ve been paired up with someone like _him_ ,” he growled.

“And Logan, I’m sorry I couldn’t find you before you got stuck with _him_ ,” Virgil snapped.

“What for?” Logan asked. “We’re all on the same team.”

All three stared at him; he lifted the chess piece in his hand and gestured to the one in Patton’s.

“Is that not also a white pawn you two chose?” he asked.

Virgil and Roman snapped their heads to look at the item in Patton’s, and then to look at each other with horrified eyes.

“With _you?!_ ”

“Oh, gosh.”

“For _four years?!_ ”

“I’m gonna throw up.”

“Oh, my goodness! We’re a family!” Patton cheered. “This is so exciting! I’m so happy to meet all of you!”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Patton, we just met. None of us share any blood relation. How could we possibly be a family?”

Shrugging, the grin stayed plastered on his face. “We’re family.”

“I am _not_ going to consider myself family with a faunus,” Virgil huffed.

“And I will do nothing of the sort with a discriminator!”

“What’s discriminatory about the truth?”

“What ‘truths’ have you spoken?!”

“That _you’re_ the beast here!”

Roman clenched his fists and moved towards Virgil, but before anything could be done, Logan stepped forwards and put hands in front of both of their chests.

“Stop,” he firmly stated. “We are to be teammates for the next four years. Arguing like this is only going to make us miserable and take a substantial toll on our mental health. Roman, do you recall our agreement about communication?”

Stepping away from Logan’s hovering hand, Roman let out a breath. “Yes.”

“I think it would be appropriate to extend that to the entirety of our team. Does that seem fair to you?”

He crossed his arms. “Only if Sunshine over there agrees to it as well.”

Virgil gently pulled the hand off of his chest. “What agreement? How did you make a faunus of all people agree to something?”

Logan sighed. “First off, Virgil, Roman does have a point. You are being incredibly prejudiced against the faunus right now, which is… surprising, to say the least.”

Roman shot him a glare; Virgil returned it.

“Second, we took the advice you gave me yesterday and came to the decision that communication would be a very important thing to implement into our relationship,” Logan explained. “Would you agree to it if we extended that to the team? The whole team, not just me. Faunus and human.”

Virgil’s eyes darted back and forth between Logan and Roman for a few long seconds, until he finally huffed and rolled his eyes. “Fine.”

There was a quiet squeal, and Patton was waving his fists back and forth. “We’re on our way to becoming a family!” he exclaimed.

“Again, there’s no blood relation between-”

“Family!”

* * *

“Calanthe Coggs, Lloyd Snow, Thamir Sultan, and Nila Tanzer.”

The applause in the auditorium began to die down to listen to Professor Ozpin make the next announcement; Patton had to crane his neck to see past Roman’s wings from where he stood in front of him.

“The four of you retrieved the black rook pieces.”

Patton’s stomach flipped. Their team was next.

“From this day forward, you shall work together as… Team Catalina.”

He ran the letters of their names in his head: CTLN. A little shrug escaped his shoulders; he supposed it made sense.

“Led by… Calanthe Coggs.”

Applause erupted in the auditorium as Team CTLN filed off stage, making way for the next team. Virgil gave one of the girls a high five, and Patton could just barely see Logan give one of the boys what appeared to be a thankful nod. He didn’t miss the way Roman’s face reddened when the second boy passed and shot him a wink.

“Logan Lyceum, Patton Passio, Roman Reptilia, and Virgil Vengier.”

This was it. Patton struggled to keep his emotions in check as they crossed the stage.

“The four of you retrieved the white pawn pieces.”

Professor Ozpin looked at each of them, the same look in his eyes that he’d had with all of the other teams so far. It made Patton’s insides mushy and bright.

“From this day forward, you shall work together as… Team Prevail.”

Pride swelled up in his chest. PRVL. Patton, Roman, Virgil, Logan. It was perfect.

“Lead by… Patton Passio.”

He beamed, looking down the line to make eye contact with their new leader. He was so proud of him! He always knew that he was capable of…

Wait.

He looked at Ozpin with a raised eyebrow.

Ozpin smiled softly and nodded.

He didn’t have the chance to be confused for much longer; the rest of his team was starting off of the stage. Patton shot Professor Ozpin a smile before hurrying after them. Slowly, reality settled into his chest, and by the time they reached the stairs, he was bouncing with every step.

“Congrats, Pat,” Virgil laughed, reaching up to ruffle his hair.

Patton beamed right back at him, and as soon as they reached the floor, he stopped and turned to the other three with the biggest grin that could fit on his face and his hands flapping up and down.

“Just call me Dad now, guys!” he exclaimed. “I’m gonna make this the best family ever!”

“Again, none of us are related.”

Roman snorted as he headed up the aisle. “You can start by taking us back to our seats so we can watch the rest of the ceremony.”

“Yeah, there’s a girl in the next team that I went to school with,” Virgil pointed out. “I don’t want to miss her. I want to see the look on her face when she gets named team leader.”

“What makes you so sure she will be?” Roman remarked.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “Please, she graduated top of the class _and_ won all four Mistral Region Tournaments that she was allowed to participate in. There’s no chance she’s not going to be leader.”

The auditorium applauded; Roman shot him a glare. “Let’s see about that.”

“Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, and Nora Valkyrie.”

Patton turned around to watch, frowning as one of the names caught his memory. “Hey, isn’t that the girl from Pumpkin Pete’s Marshmallow Flakes?”

“That’s Pyrrha,” Virgil said, turning to look. “Kindest girl you’ll ever meet.”

Logan stopped. “That seems to be a bit of an exaggeration.”

“Led by… Jaune Arc!”

“What?”

Roman laughed. “Not so great now, is she?”

They all winced and giggled as Pyrrha gave the boy next to her a friendly punch on the shoulder and knocked him over. Raising his eyebrows, Virgil turned and continued to head up the aisle.

“That’s Pyrrha for you.”

“Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long.”

“Wait, what? Ruby?”

Roman stopped and whipped around, causing the other three to stop again.

“What’s the problem?” Logan asked.

He shook his head. “Ruby’s only a third year at Signal, she shouldn’t be here,” he informed.

Virgil hummed. “Bet she’ll be team leader.”

“That’s ridiculous, she’s far too young to-”

“Led by… Ruby Rose!”

“What?!”

The blonde girl on stage tackled the one clad in red; Patton cooed and looked at Logan.

“See, they just met and they’re already family!” he pointed out.

“They _are_ family, Patton, Yang and Ruby are sisters, in fact Yang is probably the most fiercely protective older sibling I know of,” Roman rambled, “I just don’t understand why Ruby is even _here!_ Sure, she’s always been an exceptionally good fighter, but to skip ahead two years…”

Turning back up the aisle, Virgil retorted, “Hey, they let you in. Anything’s possible.”

Roman turned to shoot him a glare; Patton sighed inwardly.

This family was going to be a lot more work than he thought.

* * *

The silence they remained in when taking their luggage to their dorm was deafening.

While other teams excitedly conversed about what they were going to do in the coming years, or about their classes, or about their home lives, Team PRVL was one of the few teams that didn’t utter a word. They all managed to sort through the bags and boxes at the cargo ship, figure out which building and dorm they lived in, and move their things in without a single bit of communication. Normally, Patton would be reeling on a tangent, but the tension made his hands cold and his tongue too heavy to lift.

Once all of their stuff was in the room, they all paused, looking expectantly at each other. For the first time in hours, Logan broke the silence.

“I suppose we are in need of figuring out who takes what part of the room,” he stated.

“Beds first,” Virgil ordered. “I need to take a nap.”

Roman raised an eyebrow at him. “It’s 8:30? Wouldn’t you just go to bed?”

“Gotta be rested up so I don’t go to sleep before my bedtime.”

“When is your bed time?”

Virgil paused. “Usually three or four.”

“In the morning?!”

Pointing at him, Logan’s eyes widened. “That is _not_ going to happen,” he informed. “We all are going to need to be in bed by ten, eleven at the absolute latest. We have a big day tomorrow.”

“Ooh, classes, can’t wait,” Virgil grumbled.

Roman put his hands on his hips and glared at Logan. “Excuse me, I believe Ozpin made Patton the leader, not you,” he snapped. “If we want to accomplish anything, there needs to be order in this team. That’s what Team BYRD did, and I will settle for nothing less than their levels.”

Logan and Virgil both raised an eyebrow at him. “Team BYRD?”

“Who’s Team BYRD?”

All three whipped around to look at Patton as if he had three heads. He raised his hands in defense while Roman spluttered.

“Wh- Y- I- You don’t know who Team BYRD is?!” he practically screamed.

Patton frantically shook his head. “No! Should I?”

“Well- they’re only the best team of Huntresses to ever exist!” Roman exclaimed. “They’re legends! Goddesses, even! How have you never heard of them?!”

Logan pressed his lips together. “I- Uh- I think ‘goddesses’ is a bit extreme…”

Whipping a poster out of one of his bags, Roman shoved it into Patton’s face. “See? Haven’t you ever seen these girls before?”

“No…?”

Virgil stepped over, taking Patton by the shoulders and pulling him back a couple of steps. “Alright, Drama Queen, pump the brakes. You’re scaring him.”

“I just don’t understand how you’ve never heard of them!”

“Half of them are dead!” Virgil retorted. “No one cares about them anymore!”

Roman gasped. “You dare speak of them so disrespectfully?!”

“The room!”

They turned to watch Logan huff and adjust his glasses, staring at the beds in front of them. Shooting them a glance, he shook his head.

“Can we please stay on topic?” he asked. “Put the poster away, Roman, we have more pressing matters than decorations right now.”

Glaring, Roman reluctantly began to roll the paper up. “Fine,” he snapped.

Logan took a deep breath. “Thank you. Patton, seeing as you are the leader, I believe it is your duty to take control of this organization.”

Their leader chewed on his lip, twiddling his thumbs as he avoided eye contact. “Well… Virgil, you said you wanted to figure out the beds now, right? Let’s do that.”

“Well, that’s easy,” Roman sighed. Pointing at the beds from left to right, he added, “Patton, me, Virgil, Logan. Team ranking order. Fair and square.”

“Whoa, whoa, what ranking?” Virgil retorted. “I’m not ranked below a faunus!”

“Virgil, remember our agreement,” Logan said.

He huffed. “Well, fine, I’m not ranked below _Roman_. Happy?”

“Yes, because that’s _much_ kinder of you,” Roman grumbled.

“If anything, I would want it to be me, Patton, Logan, you,” Virgil continued, pointing at the beds in the same order, “So I can be as far away from you as possible!”

“I must agree, I much prefer the idea of our bedding being organized by partners, rather than the order our names fall in our team name,” Logan admitted.

“Then I guess it’s up to Patton!” Roman exclaimed, whipping around to look at their leader.

Patton gulped. “M-Me?”

“You are the leader,” Virgil reminded. “Most competent out of all of us, probably.”

“Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Lifting his hands further up, Patton avoided eye contact. “I, uh… well, I dunno…”

A pair of hands clasped around his, and he looked up to find Roman very deep in his personal space.

“Patton,” he said, “please, I beg of you, if you wish to have any order on this team, I suggest you… _Goodness_ , your hands are cold!”

Ripping his hands away, Patton pointed to the beds. “Me, Virgil, Roman, Logan. Everyone’s happy, it’s perfect!”

Virgil glared at Roman. “I am absolutely not happy with that.”

“Nor I!”

“Well, I think it’s perfect,” Logan cut in, shooting Patton a thankful look. “I suggest we start unpacking now so we can all go to bed at a decent hour and prepare for our classes tomorrow.”

Patton smiled softly back and took a deep breath before turning to his bags. Behind him, he could hear Roman scoff and Virgil growl. Patton pretended he didn’t hear it.

* * *

“…This class is not designed to be easy! It is an advanced history course; your classes in your primary schools or wherever you went before may have been very lenient, but not this one! I do not give grades, you earn them.”

Dr. Oobleck zipped surprisingly gracefully across the room between every sentence he spoke, green hair fluttering in the wind he caused. Patton felt his head began to spin the more he watched; a small groan down the row indicated that Logan was feeling the same. He looked past Roman and Virgil to see Logan shielding his eyes as he scribbled down notes.

“I think he needs to lay off the caffeine,” Roman muttered.

As if on cue, Dr. Oobleck took a long sip from the mug in his hand. “You came to this school to become warriors, to learn to fight. However, in this class, you will be seen as scholars, and I expect you to act as such.”

“How does one act like a scholar?” he hissed. “Come to class in glasses and holding a diploma?”

“That means I expect all homework done on time, assignments thoroughly read, and educated questions only.”

Roman scoffed. “Looks like you’ll be struggling, Virgil.”

Patton shot him a protective glare. “Roman!”

A gust of wind blew in their faces, and a wrinkled white shirt stood in front of them.

“Do you two have something you wish to share with the class?”

Patton’s heart leapt into his throat. His gaze shot to his shoes.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Roman sit up straighter. “No, sir.”

“Are you sure? You seem to have quite a lot to say, Mr. Reptilia. I do hope you won’t be following in the footsteps of your family and becoming a trouble maker, because that will not stand in this class.”

“Of course.”

“And Mr. Passio.”

Patton forced himself to look up, praying the stinging in his eyes wasn’t obvious. A glare on Dr. Oobleck’s glasses prevented him from making eye contact, and he internally let out a small sigh of relief.

Dr. Oobleck, however, stared at him for a long beat before saying anything, and that relief was replaced by twice as much fear. _What is he thinking? Am I in more trouble? Have I done something worse? What have I done wrong?! I snapped at Roman… Did I look like I was angry when I came in? Did I say something wrong? What did I say wrong?!_

When Dr. Oobleck finally opened his mouth, Patton could feel himself shaking. All that he could hope was that it wasn’t visible.

“I appreciate you trying to keep your team in line,” Dr. Oobleck said, voice much softer than it had been with Roman, “But next time, I would advise you leave the disciplining to me. I would rather one student be talking far longer than they should, than two students talking and having twice the chance to interrupt class as you have just done. Do you understand?”

Patton swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. Dr. Oobleck looked between him and Roman.

“Since it’s the first day, I will let you off with a warning,” he stated. “However, if this happens again, there will be consequences. Have I made myself clear?”

They nodded. Oobleck laid his eyes on Patton.

“You aren’t in any trouble today.”

He was gone just as quickly as he’d arrived. Patton squeezed his eyes shut and turned his face down, forcing himself to breathe. Hot streaks formed on his face, but when he went to wipe them away, he found his hands were frozen to the seat beneath him.

Cloth rubbed at his cheeks, and he opened his eyes to see Roman using Logan’s detached waist scarf to wipe his face. Three pairs of concerned eyes stared at him; Patton squirmed and avoided the gazes.

* * *

When Dr. Oobleck finally let them out, team PRVL practically all ran out of the room, the halls outside being a breath of fresh air for all of them. Roman stretched and let out a groan.

“I thought that class would never end!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms back down. “For as fast as he talks, he’s surprisingly boring…”

“Really? Gee, Roman, I wouldn’t know,” Virgil growled. “Your screwing around kept me from paying attention.”

Roman raised an eyebrow. “’Screwing around’? I was trying to make it tolerable! You’re welcome, by the way!”

“Roman, I think you’ve lost your grasp on when entertainment is appropriate and when it’s distracting,” Logan pointed out.

He spluttered. “What in the world makes you say that?”

“Well, between your actions in the Emerald Forest yesterday and the fact that you continued to ‘goof off’ after Professor Oobleck reprimanded you, I believe I have the starts of a list,” he continued.

“Yeah, and you got Patton in trouble,” Virgil snapped. “He didn’t do anything wrong!”

“It’s not my fault he decided to snap at me during class instead of waiting for Professor Oobleck to say something!”

“He wouldn’t have needed to say something if you hadn’t have been talking,” Logan said.

Roman glared. “Oh, what would you know about social stuff anyway?!”

“Boys!”

The three turned to look at Patton, but did not get eye contact in response. Their leader stared at the ground between the three.

“Play nice,” he ordered. “You’re all being really mean to each other. Throwing out insults like that is wrong. Apologize.”

Logan sighed, adjusting his glasses. “Patton has a point. We are acting quite like children. I was a part of that. I am sorry.”

Virgil and Roman glared at each other.

“I’m not apologizing to a faunus.”

“And I’m not apologizing to a discriminator.”

They turned and stormed in opposite directions down the hall; Patton sighed and shut his eyes, letting his head fall into his hands. Puzzled, Logan glanced back and forth between the other two.

“Guys, are you… aware that none of us have class in either of those hallways?”

Roman and Virgil stormed back and turned down the correct hallway, glowering at the walls instead of each other.

* * *

Patton was tired.

Between classes, exploring campus, and corralling Virgil and Logan away from arguing any more with Roman, all of his energy had been zapped before dinner had even rolled around. The noise echoing against the stone walls of the dining hall did nothing to help, either. Patton was surprised he hadn’t lost control at any point while they were eating.

He had been hoping to go back to the dorm and relax in the silence while the others went to the library to get a jump on their homework. But of course Roman had to come with him to vent, and now Patton was sitting quietly on his bed while he listened to his friend insult the daylights out of his other two friends.

“…I think they’re just jealous because I’m the hot, popular one,” Roman snapped, pacing in the floor space in front of the window. “I mean, why else would they be picking so many fights with me? There’s no other explanation!”

Patton stared at the water bottle he’d left on the floor after classes, running his fingers over his cloak in silence. He was being silent a lot lately. It felt weird.

“I’m just trying to make things less boring. You know, for a fighting school, it’s turning out to be a lot more boring than my siblings made it out to be! I’m starting to understand why they’d interrupt each other’s classes to fight! How else does anything happen?”

He shrugged. “Maybe things get more exciting as the year goes on?”

Roman scoffed. “Please. Where would things get interesting? There’s a job shadowing next semester, and the Vytal Festival is this year, I suppose, but there’s nothing _this_ semester.”

“Well… maybe it’s supposed to be the family bonding semester!” Patton said, forcing a smile onto his face as he looked up.

“Patton, no offense, but I already have a family here,” Roman pointed out. “I don’t need another. Especially not one with a discriminator and a know-it-all.”

Patton felt everything inside him collapse. He chewed on the inside of his cheek, looking away and nodding.

“Besides, with how things are right now, I doubt this team will ever be able to agree on anything, let alone _support_ each other as such,” he continued.

Swallowing thickly, Patton forced himself to open his mouth and clear his throat of any lumps. “Roman, I think they might have a point.”

He saw him stop out of the corner of his eye. “What do you mean?”

It took Patton a moment to find his voice again, and once he did, the words were not easy to find. How could he explain this without angering him?

“You are a little… arrogant,” Patton whispered. “Especially in class today. Sure, it might have been boring to you, but what if one of us was interested? We can’t listen when you’re distracting us like that.”

Roman put his hands on his hips, but said nothing else.

“And… And… This, I guess,” Patton continued. “You’re not always right, Roman. You can’t be.”

There was a long moment of silence. Patton kept his eyes on the floor.

He heard feet landing on the bookshelf. He heard the window open. He heard wings flapping out of the room.

When Patton looked up, he was alone.

A splashing caught his attention, and he looked down to see the water in the bottle swishing around, trying to get out. He felt his stomach contents doing the same, but he knew it was for a different reason.

The door opened.

“Please, you’re kidding me!” Virgil exclaimed. “You can’t tell me the Yellow Lotus could beat Thunder Cross after she lost to Rubber Maid! Rubber Maid’s like, half as strong as Thunder Cross!”

“Yes, but you’re forgetting that Rubber Maid’s strength was tripled during that fight thanks to the Fern of Sunlight,” Logan shot back. “Not even Water Boy could stop her in that arc.”

“Yeah, and the Yellow Lotus was bulked up on Power Pills. Remember that? She could have fought both Power Woman _and_ Lightning Rod and won if she had wanted, and she still lost!”

“Unrealistic!”

“They’re super heroes! There’s nothing realistic about this!”

Patton’s heart sunk as he watched Logan shut the door and continue their heated debate. Maybe Roman was right. Maybe they couldn’t be a family.

Maybe he was just being stupid.

He stood up long enough to pull the covers back and crawl into bed, not bothering to say anything to the two. He laid on his side, facing the wall and willing himself to block out the arguing. It had been a long day. It was time for it to end.

Behind him, his water bottle started to float in the air.


	5. Bleeding Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman, Virgil, and Logan start to catch onto Patton's distress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind The Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/171277034213/prvl-v1c5-bleeding-heart-behind-the-scenes
> 
> Chapter warnings: arguing, talk of physical fighting, actual physical fighting, faunus discrimination, talk of emotional abuse

The dining hall was as loud as ever the next morning, but Patton couldn’t really bring himself to care. His ears were ringing, and his skin crawling, but he forced himself to ignore it. There were bigger things to worry about, such as the crunch of his dry cereal, or the way the lid to the coffee cup warped the taste of his hot chocolate, or remembering to hide any and every liquid from his teammates before they could see it floating.

A huff from Virgil pulled his attention away for just a second; he looked up to watch his teammate glaring across the room. “He’s just so full of himself.”

Logan sighed, picking up his mug of coffee from where it sat next to Patton’s cereal. “I believe he’s just trying to prove himself. Growing up in the shadow of someone great isn’t easy, as it makes the opinions of everyone else much more important,” he stated. He paused to take a long sip. “But yes, it is rather irritating.”

“Why can’t he just get over it? It’s not that hard to not care what others think,” Virgil snapped.

Logan set down his mug; as he began forming his response, Patton watched in horror as the coffee began to lift in the air. He threw his hand over the cup, drawing the attention of the other two.

Frowning, Logan asked, “Patton, what are you doing?”

“Uh… I, uh…” He swallowed thickly, pulling the mug closer to himself. “I decided I wanted to have some of your coffee! I want to see how you take it, you know?”

He picked it up and took a swig, cringing immediately as the caffienated now-slush hit his mouth. Pulling away, he scraped his tongue with his teeth.

Logan sighed. “You know, you could have just asked me.”

Patton swallowed back his nausea and nodded. “Right, sorry.”

“Geez, Lo, what the heck do you put in that stuff?” Virgil laughed. “You just about killed Patton!”

“Cream and about a tablespoon of sugar. Nothing more nor less.”

Virgil opened his mouth to retort, but his attention was drawn away; he groaned and threw his head down.

“Here comes the Beast Squad…”

“Virgil, we talked about this,” Logan reprimanded.

Someone threw themselves down on top of the table next to Patton, and he just about jumped out of his skin. A hand ruffled his hair, accompanied by a friendly laugh.

“How’s our honorary little bro doing today?” Trix asked.

Patton looked up and beamed at the redhead. “Good, how are you?”

She raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Really? Is that so?” she responded. “ _I_ heard that a certain dumb dragon got you into trouble yesterday…”

“I’m not dumb!” Roman exclaimed as he sat himself next to Virgil.

“…And that you laid some truth on him last night when he was ranting like a baby. Is that true?”

Curling in on himself, Patton swallowed thickly and looked down. “I, uh…”

Trix shuffled her feet. “’Cause if it is, I’ll beat Roman up for you. You’re allowed to not be good without being criticized for it. Besides, I beat him up all the time anyway; might as well have a reason for once.”

Roman spluttered. “Oh, come on!”

“What? You were being one heck of a poached-skin purse yesterday; don’t act like you don’t deserve it!”

Virgil snorted and buried his face, trying to muffle his hysteric giggles. Roman glowered at him.

“Don’t encourage her,” he growled.

“No, do encourage me!” she retorted. “I’m your sister, and I have seniority! Family is allowed to beat each other up!”

Roman huffed. “Then why don’t you go bother Anole? I’m sure his team would _love_ to- Patton, why is your cup floating?”

Eyes widening, Patton snapped his head up to see the foam cup hovering in the air about an inch above the table. He snatched it away and held it in his lap next to the mug of frozen coffee. A nervous laugh stuttered out of him; four sets of raised eyebrows laid on him.

“Patton?” Roman repeated. “What was that about?”

“Oh, it’s nothing!” he giggled. “Things like that just sorta happen sometimes, you know?”

“You sure about that? ‘Cause I know my coffee doesn’t usually start doing magic tricks on its own,” Trix pointed out.

Patton’s eyes darted to Virgil for help, but all he got in return was a deeply concerned gaze. He swallowed thickly and stood, hiding the cups behind his back when he realized he couldn’t get them off of his hands.

“Well- I, uh- I’m going to go finish getting ready for the day,” he stammered, backing away slowly from the others. “Classes, you know? Hope you all have an _egg_ -scelent breakfast!”

He bolted; Logan and Virgil shared a look.

“Well, that was fishy,” Virgil commented.

“I’ll say,” Roman huffed, “And did you hear his egg pun? I have half a mind to be offended at that…”

Virgil shot him a raised eyebrow. “What the heck is insulting about that?”

Before another argument could break out, Logan stood, adjusting his glasses. “I have some business I need to attend to. Seeing as we only have about an hour before class and Patton took my coffee, I need to leave some time to grab another cup before my meeting. Roman and Virgil, I’ll see you in Glynda’s class, and Trix, I assume I will see you around campus at some point today.”

Trix blinked. “Kid, it’s the second day of classes. How the heck can you already have a meeting? Are you in trouble? I thought Roman was the rebel of PRVL.”

“Hey!”

Logan shook his head. “I’m in no form of trouble. I just have something important I need to discuss with one of our professors. It’s nothing to worry about.”

He turned and left the group before any of them could question him again; letting out a sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and headed out of the cafeteria.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, there weren’t a lot of people in Beacon Tower so early in the morning.

Logan was silently grateful that he knew his way around campus enough from visits with his family growing up. It made breaking routine much easier when he needed. He managed to make it into the tower and tell the AI in the elevator where he was going all without any surprises to throw him off- something Logan was incredibly grateful for, considering what he was about to do.

When the elevator stopped, he knew that, rationally, he shouldn’t be nervous. It was only a question. He’d been in this office time and time again. There was nothing to be afraid of.

The door opened, and his heart leapt into his throat. Okay, so he’d never been here _alone_. And he didn’t know how his question would be received. Perhaps he should just go back down and pretend nothing had happened. Maybe the man at the desk hadn’t noticed-

“Ah, Logan. I was wondering when you’d come around. Please, come in.”

Logan immediately went into Serious-Normal-Conversation mode, nodding as he stepped out of the elevator. “Hello, Professor Ozpin.”

“I trust you’re doing well?” the headmaster asked. “The change isn’t too overwhelming, is it? Please, take a seat. Would you like some cocoa?”

“No thank you, sir. Everything is okay. I’m doing well,” Logan replied. Hesitantly, he sat in the chair being offered and kept his eyes on Ozpin’s chest.

Ozpin folded his hands. “And how are your parents? I hear they’ve started taking up missions again now that you’re here.”

“Yes. Father and Esther left for Vacuo the morning I left to come here. It’s their first mission together outside of our area.”

Humming, Ozpin nodded. “That would also be your father’s first mission outside of the area since what happened with your mother, correct?”

Logan paused, racking his brain for the facts. “…Yes, I believe so.”

“Quite an accomplishment, then. Tell them I said hello the next time you talk to them, will you?”

“Of course.”

There was a beat of silence. Logan’s heart began to pound as he struggled to come up with something to say.

Thankfully, Ozpin leaned forward before he landed on the correct idea. “Logan.”

He glanced up to finally make eye contact with the headmaster; his skin crawled, but he knew he couldn’t look away now. This was an important eye contact to make.

“As much as I appreciate catching up with the adventures of the Lyceum Family, I know you’re not one for small talk,” Ozpin stated. “What’s going on?”

Logan finally broke the stare, swallowing thickly as he looked to the floor and started rocking in his chair a bit. “Sir, I… I don’t understand why you chose Patton as our leader. Not that I disagree! I just… don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand about it?”

“Well… He just doesn’t seem like a very… Fitting leader, I guess,” Logan stammered.

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

Logan shot up his gaze to make quick eye contact, and then he looked out of the window. “He doesn’t understand how to control his semblance, for one,” he pointed out. “In the two days I’ve known him, I’ve seen more ice and floating water than I’ve seen all year. If he was… emotionally stable, so to speak, I don’t think there would be a problem, but he’s constantly dealing with all of these feelings…”

“Change can be quite a hard thing to endure, especially when one is unexpectantly thrown into a role such as leader,” Ozpin replied. “Give him a few days, and I’m sure he’ll calm down. You and I both know that Patton’s semblance is one that’s very hard to control, and given his lack of training, I doubt he’ll have a complete grasp on that until he’s been studying for a long time.”

Slowly, Logan nodded. “That’s another thing. He’s had such a small amount of training- he told me that he never attended any combat school, just an after school program. Wouldn’t it make sense to have the leader be someone who’s been training for years, such as Virgil or Roman or myself?”

“Well, I’d like to point out that you never went to combat school, either,” he chuckled, “Even if your parents are exceptionally well-trained and have passed that knowledge onto you.”

Logan felt his face flush, and he turned his head to look at the floor. “He doesn’t know… seemingly anything about the culture of Huntsmen,” he added. “He didn’t even know who Team BYRD was.”

There was a pause. Ozpin took a long drink out of the Beacon mug in his hands before setting it aside and leaning forward.

“Are you upset with my choice?” he asked.

Logan’s head shot up, shaking furiously. “No, of course not! I’m just puzzled, is all. I was always under the impression that the team’s leader was always the strongest, but in our case, it seems the opposite is true…”

Humming, Ozpin nodded. “Do you know what your mother was like when she first came to Beacon?”

His brow furrowed. “Uh… I don’t believe so. She never really talked about her childhood, and Father still isn’t comfortable telling me about her.”

“She was very similar to Patton, in a lot of ways,” Ozpin continued. “Timid, afraid of everything, had very little training… In fact, if I remember right, her entrance exam scores were lower than Patton’s were. She only managed to get in by two points.”

Logan blinked, eyes wide. “But… You made her the leader of her team.”

“I did.”

“I don’t understand…”

“Logan, I’ve been the headmaster of this school for a very long time,” he said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the best leaders aren’t always the most obvious choice. You, Roman, and Virgil are all very capable fighters- your test scores were very clear on that, for all of you. It was the same with your mother’s teammates. All three of them passed their exams with flying colors. Sometimes it’s the leader themselves who needs to have the title more than the people they’re leading.”

Logan sucked in a breath, trying to process what Professor Ozpin was telling him. “What?”

“By putting your mother and Patton as leaders, it gave them the opporitunity to learn from an experience they might not otherwise have had. Sometimes, the best way to make someone grow into themselves is to put them into a position where they have no other choice. The two of them both have or had exceptionally big hearts. Your mother didn’t have anywhere to put that love until she became leader and had a new family to look after. Once she could do that, it gave her the ability to do all of those wonderful things that made her who she was. It seems to me that Patton will be the same.”

He paused, taking a long sip of his cocoa. “Being a leader doesn’t always mean being the strongest,” he continued, “And strength isn’t always a matter of who can kill the most Grimm. I’m sure you’ll eventually come to realize that your leader is much stronger than you’re being lead to believe.”

Slowly, Logan nodded. The ideas behind Ozpin’s words gradually started to process in his mind. “…Do you believe that Patton could hold the same potential as Mother?” he whispered.

“Well, not every leader can be as great as she was,” Ozpin replied, “But I do think he will surprise us.”

Logan nodded and steadily got to his feet. “My class is starting soon,” he stated. “We have Glynda’s sparring class this morning, and I need to go if I don’t want to be late. Quite frankly, I’m a little afraid of what she would do if I was late to the first day…”

“Of course. Did I answer your question well enough?” he asked.

“Yes, sir. I… I think I understand now. At least more than I did before. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

Logan turned and headed for the elevator, pulling his necklace into his hands.

“Logan.”

He turned; Professor Ozpin had his mug in his hands again and was peering over the rim to look at him.

“Yes?”

“If you need anything, you know where to find me.”

“Of course.”

“And I mean anything. This is a hard transition for someone with a mind that works like yours does,” Ozpin pointed out. “I and the rest of the professors here at Beacon are always willing to lend a hand if you find you’re struggling. You don’t have to do everything alone.”

Logan felt his face flush; he nodded, keeping his eyes on the windows.

“Thank you, sir.”

The elevator doors shut behind him. Logan had to catch himself on the wall when his legs gave out. He lowered himself to the ground and let out a deep sigh of relief.

* * *

A battle cry echoed through the amphitheater, and Patton had to duck to avoid the red scythe from colliding with his head. Without missing a beat, the girl in front of him spun full circle; he jumped back a few steps. The weapon flew by his face close enough that he felt the breeze.

“Come on, Ruby, you can do it!” came a voice from the stands.

Ruby pulled her scythe closer to her as it collapsed in on itself. Patton threw his shield in front of his face when dust bullets started shooting out.

“Patton, remember the offense!” Roman’s voice cried. “Don’t be so defensive!”

“You’re one to talk,” Virgil’s voice grumbled.

As soon as the shots finished firing, Patton swung his shield out and began to fire back. Ruby charged at him, weapon transforming back into a scythe. Letting out a yelp, Patton turned on his heel and began to flee.

“What are you doing?!”

“Yeah, you better run from my sis!”

“Patton, fight! Don’t run!”

Out of the corner of his eye, Patton saw Professor Goodwitch sigh and cover her face from where she stood on the edge of the stage. He would have flinched, had Ruby not caught up to him and used her scythe to trip him.

“That’s the way!”

“Patton!”

He scrambled to his feet and threw up his shield as she swung; a piercing _clang_ rang through the amphitheater, and Patton yelped, throwing his hands over his ears. Red flashed in his eyesight, and he threw his shield back in front of him just in time before the scythe hit him. Another _clang_ echoed, but Patton controlled himself this time.

Just as Ruby was starting to swing again, Patton’s feet slipped out from underneath him, and his back crashed into the now-freezing floor. Ruby gasped and threw a hand over her mouth.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Patton groaned, but before he could respond, Professor Goodwitch climbed onto the stage.

“That’s enough,” she announced. “We don’t have enough time to continue this fight. Ruby, your work with your weapon is excellent, but I would advise you work on your hand-to-hand combat.”

Ruby laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her neck as she looked up to her team. Professor Goodwitch turned to Patton. He stared up at her and swallowed thickly.

“Patton… You have a lot to work on,” she stated. “I think the first step is to learn how to stay in the fight and not run away. Your team is counting on you, and they deserve a courageous leader.”

She turned to face the rest of the class; Patton sighed deeply, putting his hands over his eyes and dropping his head against the floor.

“That’s all the time we have for today. We will continue this next class. The next leaders to spar will be from Team CTLN and Team JNPR. Calanthe, Jaune, be ready. You are dismissed.”

While the students began to shuffle around, Patton could hear three girls start cheering on the other side of the amphitheater; Ruby laughed nervously and called out a thank you before Patton heard her come near. He finally opened his eyes to see her offering a hand.

“You did a good job,” she said.

Heartstrings twisting, Patton carefully accepted and got to his feet. Neither let go of the other’s hand. “Ah… Thanks,” he finally responded. “Even if I did run…”

“Well… you did your best, right?” Ruby asked. “That’s all that matters. I’m sure you’ll get the hang of it soon! Just gotta keep working!”

He laughed. “Right.”

“And even if you’re not the best, at least you’ve got your team,” she reminded. “It’s good to have someone have your back, you know?”

Patton grip went cold, but he pulled his hand away before Ruby could question it. “Ah… Right… A-Anyway, I’ll see you around, Ruby. You fought really well!”

Before she could say anything else, Patton turned and hurried past her towards the locker room. The cold sensation on her hand didn’t go away; she looked down to see chunks of ice stuck to her palm. A frown etched onto her face.

“Hey.”

Ruby shot her gaze up as the rest of Patton’s team approached. Virgil nodded at her, a respectful smile being sent her way.

“That was a good fight,” he said. “It’s no wonder you got in early.”

“Yes, I had no idea you were _that_ good,” Roman added. “I always thought Yang was just exaggerating when she bragged about you at Signal, but she was right. You’re incredible!”

Ruby laughed nervously. “Ah, thanks,” she replied. Her eyes went back to her hand. “Uh… Do you guys have any idea what this is about?”

When she turned her palm to face them, all three of their brows furrowed. Roman blinked in confusion, Logan’s face went blank, and a concerned frown formed on Virgil’s lips.

“It’s… probably just his semblance not wearing off yet,” Logan proposed. “He did lose control of it a bit when you were fighting. I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

Virgil looked at him. “I’m not sure if you’ve noticed this, Pocket Protector, but he’s been losing control a whole lot more often than on the battlefield these past couple of days.”

“Do you think something could be troubling him?” Roman asked.

Logan adjusted his glasses, ignoring the flipping in his stomach. “We’re all going through a substantially sized change. Emotional unstability is much higher than average at this point in the year. Again, I don’t think it’s something we need to be concerned about.”

“Why wouldn’t you be concerned about it?” Ruby asked. “Isn’t he your teammate?”

“Well… Yes,” Logan replied, “but from what I understand, wildly varying emotions is a relatively common occurrence at a time like this. It should pass with little harm.”

She frowned. “But if he’s struggling, shouldn’t you try to help him anyway, even if it is a normal thing? That’s what friends do, right?”

Logan fell silent. The three members of the team exchanged a look that he couldn’t really decipher the meaning behind.

“…We’ll talk to him,” Roman finally declared. “Should he be in need of help, we will gladly give it to him.”

“I’ve got a class with him at 12:30,” Virgil informed. “I can ask him then.”

“I think this would be best discussed as a team, rather than individuals,” Logan said.

Roman rubbed his forehead. “That will mean we have to wait until after classes are over. We don’t have any more classes together today.”

“Then we’ll talk about it tonight. Studying and napping can wait,” Virgil said.

“Well… Good luck, guys,” Ruby said, turning to head off of the stage. “I hope everything works out for you!”

The boys watched Ruby reunite with her team, the girls immediately jumping on their leader to congratulate her on the fight. A sigh tumbled out of Virgil’s mouth.

“I hope so, too.”

* * *

It was nearing nine o’clock at night, and no one had seen Patton in hours.

Roman was the last one to see him. They had shared a home economics class in the afternoon that ended at 2:45. Patton had been silent for the whole hour and bolted as soon as it was done. He hadn’t shown up to dinner, nor had he been seen in the dorm at any point before or after. The concern only grew when the rest of the team met up to find they all had witnessed the same things in their classes.

Now, instead of socializing or studying like they had been hoping to do, Logan, Virgil, and Roman were worriedly awaiting Patton’s return. As the minutes ticked by, it seemed more and more like the wait was in vain.

Virgil let out a frustrated sigh from where he sat on the bed. “Where the heck could he even be?” he asked. “It’s not like he’d be studying or anything. The library closed, like, an hour ago!”

“And it’s not like he’s made any friends aside from us to go speak to,” Roman added as he paced between his and Virgil’s beds.

Logan hummed, eyes glued to his Tangle, doing what he could to avoid bumping elbows with Virgil. “I suppose it’s possible that may have changed today,” he pointed out. “None of us were with him at our 3:00 classes, nor the one right after Professor Goodwitch’s. Perhaps he befriended someone there.”

“Mm, I doubt it. If he was acting anything like he was in the classes we did have with him, he probably wasn’t too friendly in his other classes,” Virgil said.

“Someone could have spoken to him first,” Logan responded. “I think we can agree that Patton wouldn’t turn down the idea of making new friends.”

“We’ve known each other for three days. I don’t think any of us should be assuming stuff like that this early.”

Roman sighed, lowering himself onto his bed and putting his head in his hands. “This is my fault,” he moaned. “Trix was right. I have been nothing but a jerk to you three since we arrived. I owe you all such an apology.”

“Eh… You’re not the only one,” Virgil replied.

“I believe we’ve all had a hand in this. You are far from the only person to blame for this situation,” Logan added. “Besides, we still don’t have any solid reasoning to assume what could be bothering him. There is a chance it has nothing to do with any of us at all.”

Shaking his head, Roman groaned. “Still… That doesn’t mean I haven’t been rude and arrogant. I can’t imagine how badly I’ve irritated you all.”

Virgil moved to sit on the floor. “Don’t sweat it. It’s like Patton’s been saying, we’re family. Families annoy each other. It’s what we’re supposed to do. Besides, I can’t exactly say I’ve been the perfect Huntsman…”

The Tangle in Logan’s hand froze as his head shot up. “Oh!”

Roman and Virgil turned to him. “What?”

“Of course!” he exclaimed, dropping the fidget toy into his lap. “How could we have missed that?!”

“Missed what? What are you going on about?” Roman asked.

Logan jumped to his feet and sprinted to the door. “I figured out what’s wrong with Patton!”

Frowning, Virgil threw up his hands as he watched his teammate dash into the hall. “Can you explain it before running off like that?”

He skidded back into frame, eyes wide and frantic. “Family!” he yelled. “This whole time, Patton’s been trying to make our team feel like family! A good family typically consists of healthy support and what is usually understood as ‘loving actions’!”

“Go on?” Roman said.

“The way that we’ve been acting- all of us fighting, acting as if we hate each other, and in the case of you two, full on stating that you hate each other -none of that sounds like a healthy family to you, does it? Patton must have seen this, reckognized it as not going as he wanted it to, and is now emotionally… not- not broken, but, like, uh…”

“We’re breaking his heart,” Virgil finished.

Logan snapped and pointed to him. “Yes! Patton has a very caring personality and has a lot of love to give, so watching us act like this must be extremely distressing for him!”

“Well, if you’ve got it all figured out, where is he now?” Roman asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied, shaking his head. “I don’t know. But wherever he is, we need to find him. The longer we wait, the more harmful these emotions he’s most likely dealing with will be.”

Without another word, Roman and Virgil scurried to their feet and followed Logan out of the dorm and down the hall.

* * *

No communication was needed when they split up to search for Patton. While Logan had immediately headed to the academic buildings and Virgil headed for the CCT and the dining hall, Roman had taken to the skies to search for him outside. Luckily, since it was so late, there were few people roaming campus for them to mistake as their missing leader, but despite this, it still was taking quite a long time to discover any signs of him.

In the end, after what felt like hours of searching, it was Roman who found Patton’s little hiding spot. He had immediately soared off to fetch the other two, and they hurried to follow him to the location. When they drew near the loading docks and could see their leader sitting at the edge of the sidewalk, Roman landed, and the three walked together in silence.

The closer they got, the clearer they could hear the sobs. Roman could see a vast number of droplets suspended in the air around Patton. He swallowed back the guilt and opened his mouth.

“Patton?” he called.

He gasped and whipped around; little ice pellets flew towards them and shattered against the ground. Scrambling to his feet, Patton wrapped his cloak around himself and threw a hand over his mouth.

“I- I-”

Virgil stepped forward, holding his hands out. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Patton coughed and inhaled a shaky breath, putting his other hand over top of the first. “I’m sorry,” he whimpered. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry…”

The other two moved next to Virgil. “Patton, you have nothing to be sorry for,” Logan stated. “You’ve done nothing but make efforts to bring us together. We were the ones resisting that.”

“You have every right to be upset with us,” Roman added. “We’ve been the worst teammates anyone could ask for. We’re the ones who should be apologizing.”

“That’s why we came to find you, actually.” Virgil looked down, shuffling his feet. “You just wanted us to be close. You don’t deserve being ignored like that.”

Shaking his head frantically, Patton squeezed his eyes shut. “I- I do,” he sobbed. “I’m the leader, I’m not supposed to be like this! I’m being dramatic and- and stupid and wrong, I’m sorry…!”

“No, you aren’t, Pat. However you’re feeling, it’s completely normal,” Virgil reassured, “Not bad, not strange, not stupid.”

“Team leader or not, you need to acknowledge and deal with all of your emotions,” Logan pointed out. “Pushing them away like this is only going to harm you in the long run.”

“And you don’t have to do it alone,” Roman said. “It’s like you’ve been saying all along. We’re family. Family supports each other and listens and helps. I was wrong to say last night that I didn’t need another. I’ll be darned if I ever make you feel like that again. We’re here for you no matter what, Patton, whether you need us or not.”

Patton stared at his teammates, arms gradually falling to his sides. His lip trembled dangerously as his eyes moved to look at the ground; his breathing started to even out. It appeared he was calming down.

And then, just like that, all hell broke loose.

A gust of wind accompanied Patton’s broken wail, knocking his teammates back a step. Fire at his hands lit up the area while grass started to sprout at his feet. Tears poured out from behind his eyelids, and they pulled away and hovered in front of his face for just a second before freezing and dropping to the ground.

Patton’s knees buckled, and Roman shot forward, grabbing him just before he hit the ground. His hands scorched Roman’s back as he clung to him, but Roman didn’t dare pull away. He reached up and ran his fingers through his hair.

“It’s okay,” he muttered. “It’s okay.”

“I’m _sorry_ ,” he wailed.

“Don’t be.”

A great sob shook the two of them. “Did you really mean it?” Patton asked. “What you said about family?”

Roman gripped him tighter, gently beginning to rock them back and forth. “Of course, Pat. That’s what family is for.”

Patton coughed and gasped for air; Logan stepped forward and placed a hand on his back, rubbing it in little circles. He and Roman made eye contact.

_Will this help?_ Logan mouthed.

Nodding, Roman sent him a subtle thumbs up.

After a long while, Patton’s breathing began to even out. The burning on Roman’s back grew less and less intense, and the _clink_ ing of ice hitting the ground became less frequent. Gradually, his sobbing dissolved into soft whimpering, but Roman and Logan didn’t stop what they were doing.

Virgil came to Roman’s other side, arms wrapped around himself. “Patton… When we were in the forest, you said something about you not being supposed to use your semblance,” he started. “Am I right in thinking that the way you’re handling all of this is connected to that?”

There was a sniffle, followed by a long pause, and then Patton nodded. Roman frowned, looking down at him.

“What? Why in the world would you not be allowed to use your semblance?” he asked. “That’s a huge part of being a Hunter…”

Patton squeezed him just a little bit tighter. “My family doesn’t think so,” he whispered. “They think it’s unnatural and against the will of our God to use it.”

Logan’s nose crinkled. “Do you believe the same?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know,” Patton answered. “They especially hated mine, when it came time to unlock our auras in our fighting classes. It made it impossible to hide anything. You know how like- Like, if your parents find out you’re feeling a certain way, and they don’t like it so they start yelling at you to get you to tell them why, but you don’t know why and telling them that makes them even more mad because they think you’re lying and trying to be difficult?”

“…No?” Virgil responded.

Patton paused. “…Well. Um. That happens a lot, doesn’t it? Like, maybe not in your family, I guess but… Um. I started to actually lie to my parents at some point. I think in like, middle school? Because I was annoying my family, since I couldn’t figure out why I was feeling those things, and I felt bad every time they told me that, so I just started lying to them all the time and saying I was fine so I could stop upsetting them.”

“Oh, Patton…”

“But when my aura was unlocked, I couldn’t do that anymore. It made everything worse.” He swallowed thickly, trying to stop himself from shaking before it started. “I couldn’t hide it anymore when I was overwhelmed or scared or mad. And since it was my semblance giving it away, they thought I was doing it on purpose to make the fights worse, like I enjoyed ruining everything, and that I hated our God and was trying to make him mad, too. They didn’t believe me when I said I couldn’t control it. Dad said that I was just being lazy and not trying hard enough. And he was right.”

“No, he wasn’t, Patton,” Logan cut in.

“Yes, he was,” he shot back. “All I had to do was make myself stop being so dramatic. Once I stopped feeling things, I stopped using my semblance. I… I still slip up sometimes. Like tonight. And it was wrong of me.” His voice cracked. “I should have tried harder to control myself. I- I got dramatic and annoying and selfish tonight. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry…”

Roman held him tighter as the smaller began to tremble; Patton buried his face in his chest. Logan pulled his hand away from his back, fist balled so tightly that his knuckles were white.

“Patton, none of this is normal,” he firmly stated. “Your family should never make you feel like that about anything, regardless of how it ties into the religion that they follow. The way that they’ve treated you and the things they have said are wrong.”

“Logan’s right. It’s not your fault they didn’t believe you,” Virgil said. “Just because your semblance is tied to your emotions doesn’t mean it’s wrong. And while we’re on the subject, having emotions at all isn’t wrong either, even if you can’t explain why.”

Burying his face in Patton’s hair, Roman let out a shaky breath. “You’re not wrong for being you, Patton. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you. You didn’t deserve any of that. I’m so, so sorry you had to live like that.”

“We can help you train to use your semblance in the correct way,” Logan offered, “And how to healthily cope with your emotions. Suppressing them like you have been doing for the majority of your life is incredibly harmful. The sooner you can learn, the better.”

Virgil stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Patton and Roman. “We won’t ever be mad at you for feeling a certain way about something. You don’t have to apologize to us.”

After a moment’s pause, Logan awkwardly joined the hug, his arms almost hovering above the others with how gently he touched them. In the middle, Patton’s shoulders relaxed a bit. He sniffled.

“Thank you,” he whispered.

“You know what?” Roman said. “Trix and Anole have already accepted you as one of us. I’m sure the rest of my family will, as well. You’re always welcome to become a part of the Reptilia family.”

“Same with mine,” Virgil added. “It’s a lot smaller, but we’d be happy to have you.”

“As would my parents. If you ever feel the need to part with your… relatives, we would be more than happy to house you, so long as you can handle us.”

“And you’ll always have the three of us,” Roman finished. “I know we haven’t known each other for all that long, but… I think it’s safe to say we’ll become closer and closer as time goes on. You can always come to us if you need anything.”

Patton let out a deep breath, and he pulled away from the pile to wipe his eyes and smile at them. He reached out and yanked all three into his own arms, squeezing them tight. The others managed to worm their arms into a similar position. In the middle, their heads touched against each other.

A sigh escaped from Patton, and a smile etched on his face.

“Family.”

Beneath them, the ground rose.


	6. Expectations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan knows he needs to live a balanced life if he ever wants to be a good Huntsman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind The Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/171538164958/prvl-v1c6-expectations-bts
> 
> Chapter Warnings: a little bit of NSFW talk at the very beginning, mentions of a celebrity suicide theory, nightmare

“Patton, you can’t be serious.”

Bouncing in his seat, the boy in question nodded his head frantically. “I am!” he exclaimed. “Think about it—I change my name to Frank, Roman changes his to Michael, you and Virgil switch places, and Virgil changes his to something that starts with a Y! It’s perfect!”

“It’s unnecessary,” Logan retorted, taking a bite out of his toast.

“But it’s fun!”

The dining hall was unnaturally quiet compared to its normal hustle and bustle. Team PRVL had allowed themselves to sleep in that Saturday, seeing as the first few weeks of classes had started to take their toll on the bunch. Once everyone had woken up, Patton had insisted they all go to get brunch together instead of starting on their work for the weekend. It took a little convincing, but none of them could say no when Patton pulled the puppy dog eyes on them. They all ended up going with little to no complaining.

“I don’t know, I kinda like it,” Virgil laughed. “Team FMLY sounds like the perfect team name for us.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “Please, you two. We don’t need to change our names to be a part of a family.”

Patton shrugged. “Yeah, but it’d be cute…”

Across from Roman, Virgil smirked over the rim of his coffee mug. “I think it’d be even better if we made Logan keep his name and my placement, and then the three of us change our names to Dan, Ivan, and Frank.”

“Oh, sweet mother of acronyms!” Roman yelped.

Tipping his head to the side, Patton raised an eyebrow at them. “How would you pronounce that? I can’t think of any words you can form with DILF…”

Giggles erupted out of the two, which only furthered his confusion. Logan shot them both disapproving looks.

“Stop it, you two. Don’t ruin his innocence.”

“Wait… Wait, what does it mean? What is it?”

Once the two calmed down, Virgil turned his head in Patton’s direction, not daring to look him in the eye. “It’s what you are, duh.”

He instantly buried his beet red face in his arms, shaking with loud laughter; Logan and Roman looked at him with wide eyes.

 _“Virgil!_ ” Logan hissed.

“Laugh all you want,” Roman said, “but keep in mind what word your name bears a striking resemblance to…”

Immediately, the giggling stopped. Virgil uncovered his eyes just enough to shoot a glare in his direction. “You wouldn’t dare…”

“Is it, like, another name for leader?” Patton asked, cutting into the conversation. “What does DILF mean?”

Logan shook his head, reaching for his toast. “Can we please change the subject?”

“Ooh! Maybe our middle names spell something!” Patton yelled. “What are your guys’ middle names? Mine’s Thaddeus!”

“Seth,” Logan mumbled through the jam.

Roman pulled away from him. “Have some manners,” he huffed. “Patton, to answer your question, mine is Hugo.”

Virgil snorted. “Talk about a nerdy name.”

“You’re one to talk, Virgin. I doubt yours is much better.”

Face reddening again, he looked away with a growl.

“…Millard.”

Roman giggled and raised his eyebrows. “Just as I thought. You have no room to make fun of my middle name.”

Virgil glared.

“So… If we went in order…” Patton leaned forward, scribbling the initials onto a napkin in front of him, “We would get… THMS… Th… Themes? Thalamus?”

“Thereomorphasis,” Logan suggested.

“We want a team name, not the winning word at a spelling bee,” Virgil replied. “Thymes, maybe.”

Roman let out a sigh, rolling his eyes. “Honestly, you’re all missing the obvious choice,” he huffed.

“Oh? And what would that be, Prince Dictionary?” Virgil shot back.

“Thomas.”

Patton gasped, looking at Roman. “It’s perfect!”

“Hm. I suppose that was quite obvious,” Logan commented.

Laughing, Virgil shook his head. “Maybe there’s another universe where we all make up parts of a guy named Thomas.”

“How in the world could four beings make up one person?” Roman asked.

Virgil shrugged and lifted his coffee mug to his lips. “Four guys stacked in a trench coat,” he suggested. “We’d be super subtle.”

“Unrealistic, with each of us being nearly six feet tall,” Logan replied. “Assuming we’d all be sitting on each other’s shoulders, we would be at least around fifteen feet tall. That’s over twice the average height of a human.”

Roman opened his mouth to respond, but stopped before any words could come out as he looked past Logan. He raised an eyebrow at whatever had caught his eye.

“What are _you_ doing here?”

The others turned in time to see Trix throwing her hands in the air. “What, am I not allowed to say hi to my baby brother?” she asked.

“Hi, Trix!” Patton exclaimed.

She reached across the table to ruffle his hair. “Morning, Pat,” she said. “And the same to Logan, Virgil, and the Annoying Shrimp.”

“I am not a shrimp!”

“Yes, Trix, if I’m seeing things right, Roman is a dragon faunus, not a shrimp,” Logan pointed out. “In fact, I don’t think we know any subaquatic faunus at all…”

Patton hummed. “Well, I’m sure we know at least _one_ …”

“We do know one,” Trix replied. “In fact, you know multiple. Literally our entire family is made out of reptiles. Roman’s the only one of us who can’t swim.”

“Reptile doesn’t equate to subaquatic, though,” Logan said. “Just because you can swim doesn’t mean you can live underwater.”

Roman slammed his hands on the table and jumped to his feet, jabbing a finger at his sister. “Ha! You were wrong!”

“Dad’s a turtle and Mom’s an alligator! They could both live underwater if it weren’t for us!”

“Amphibious is not the same as subaquatic.”

“Gosh, do you ever speak in like… Normal people talk?” Trix asked, raising an eyebrow at Logan. “Or like, act like a regular human at all?”

He blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Trix…,” Roman growled.

“No, I’m serious!” she continued. “You’re like a robot! All I’ve ever seen you do is study, eat toast with jelly, and speak in big words I’ve only read in a dictionary before.”

“Trix,” Roman snapped.

She rolled her eyes. “Listen, kid, if you’re ever going to want to be as good as someone like Team BYRD, you’re going to have to start acting differently. You know who Team BYRD is, right?”

Virgil scoffed. “How could any of us forget? Roman practically makes out with the poster on our door every time he sees it.”

“I’m gay! Why would I be making out with girls?”

“You know what Team BYRD was like?” Trix asked. “They never listened to what they were told, or were antisocial, or were boring. That’s what made them the best of the best! You’re like, the opposite of them. You’ll never be on their level if you keep acting like this.”

“Alright, Trix, that is _enough_ ,” Roman shot, putting his hands on his hips. “Not every team has to be as good as they are.”

“Yeah, we can make Team PRVL just as good as Team BYRD!” Patton exclaimed.

Trix raised an eyebrow at him. “You still don’t know who they are, do you?”

Patton’s grin didn’t falter, but his eyes shifted. “…Maybe…”

Letting out a great sigh, Roman held up four fingers. “Bellona, Yalona, Rudo, Duri.”

“Yana,” Virgil, Logan, and Trix simultaneously corrected.

“Whatever. They made up a team of Huntresses that stuck together after they graduated Beacon and went on to become the most famous team ever. They’re the ones responsible for the majority of Hunter culture today.”

“And half of them are dead,” Virgil added.

Patton frowned. “How did they die?”

“A question we will forever be asking,” Roman sighed. “They never released the causes when it happened. Only that they passed. People have been speculating for years.”

“My favorite one is that Bellona went crazy and killed herself,” Trix admitted, a grin forming on her face. “It would make so much sense! Being the leader of such a big team’s gotta be so much pressure!”

Logan narrowed his eyes. “Why are you happy about that?” he growled.

“Because it’s like, this big conspiracy theory! She seemed so happy over the years, and the idea that something possessed her to just off herself like that…”

A whine from Patton cut her off; he wrapped himself in his cloak, starting to shake.

“Nicely done, Trix, you frightened him,” Roman snapped.

Virgil wrapped an arm around their leader, shooting her a glare. “Yeah, as much as I love conspiracy theories, being excited about a suicide case like that is really messed up.”

“It wasn’t a suicide,” Logan huffed.

“How would you know? Were you there?” Trix shot.

“I said nothing of the sort, it’s just… incredibly illogical,” he replied. “Given how much support they would have had, and how close the team was, it seems ridiculously unlikely. Bellona was a very content woman and I can’t think of any reasonable explanation behind the idea of her choosing to end her life in such a way. Can we change the subject? I’m incredibly uncomfortable theorizing over someone’s death. I don’t know much about social norms, but this seems to be something that is highly frowned upon.”

“Pocket Protector’s right, this is messed up,” Virgil said.

Roman glared at Trix. “I believe you owe Patton an apology for frightening him like that. It’s incredibly rare for leadership to put _that_ much strain on a person.”

Trix looked at Patton, who put on the biggest grin he could muster. She let out a deep breath and shook her head.

“Fine. I’m sorry. You’re a good leader and I bet you can handle anything that’s thrown at you.”

The smile faded into a genuine one. “Aw, thanks, Trix!”

The other three went back to their food; Patton shifted and threw his hands in the air.

“I’m the best DILF this team’s got!”

Everyone choked.

* * *

_Vav protests, but X-Ray claims that because the robbers are slowed down, missing is impossible. He then proceeds to start destroying the town with his horribly inaccurate lasers._

_Meanwhile, the Mayor of the town finishes a scale model of the city, only to look outside and see the city is being destroyed. His only complaint is that his model is now inaccurate. While pondering this, one of X-Ray’s lasers shatters the windows, bounces off of the chandelier, and hits the model, causing it to explode and match what is seen outside. The Mayor leans out the window and thanks him._

_Vav is sitting on X-Ray’s shoulders, pulling at X-Ray’s hair in an attempt to stop him, but X-Ray is too blinded by the idea of being a hero for it to bother him. At the same time, Hilda is…_

“Logan?”

Blinking himself out of the online article on his scroll, Logan looked up. His heart stopped when he saw the boy standing in front of him.

“Uh… Hi,” he said. “How are you today, Thamir?”

Thamir narrowed his eyes at him suspiciously. “What are you doing?”

“Virgil- my teammate -has expressed an interest in superhero comics, specifically in one named _X-Ray and Vav_. I’m not one for pirating comics, so I’m reading the synopsis on-”

“No, that’s not what I meant,” Thamir interrupted. “I meant, why aren’t you in class? This isn’t like you…”

Logan blinked, keeping his eyes on the other’s legs. “It seems I could be asking you the same question,” he quietly retorted.

Crossing his arms, Thamir moved to sit on the bench next to him. “ _I_ was just at the doctor’s because I have an ear infection. Got an excuse and everything. Now, would you answer my question? Is everything alright? You’re always, like, ten minutes early for Glynda’s. What’s going on?”

Logan sighed and set his scroll to the side. “If you must know, I was informed recently that I… may listen to the rules too often,” he stated. “I was unaware that there is a set amount one is supposed to obey or rebel. I’m simply trying to fix my mistake.”

“…What?”

“I said, I-”

“No, I heard you, Logan,” Thamir cut off. “I just… I hope you have a better explanation for Glynda than that. She’ll have your head if that’s what you tell her.”

Logan nodded. “Yes, I suppose that’s the way it works.”

“Are you going to any of your classes today, or are you just going to sit here and read the synopsis to comic books?” Thamir asked.

“I plan on going to the rest. I figured one class skipped per day is an adequate way to start being rebellious.”

Thamir’s head snapped towards him. “A class a _day?_ Logan, don’t tell me-”

“It’s perfectly fine, I plan to choose a different class each day. I don’t see what the problem is.”

“The problem is that your grades are going to drop like crazy if you do that!” Thamir exclaimed. “You can’t do that. I’m not going to let you. I will literally walk you to your classes.”

“Oh, that won’t be necessary, though I do appreciate the senti-”

“No, it _is_ necessary if you’re going to be stubborn about this!” He looked away, shaking his head. “What class did you skip yesterday?”

Logan swallowed, glueing his eyes to the ground. “Professor Port’s Grimm Studies.”

Thamir let out a deep breath. “Alright… I have some notes from yesterday, assuming he teaches the same stuff every block. You can copy them if none of your teammates have any notes.”

“They don’t. None of them every take notes,” Logan said. “It’s a habit of theirs I can’t understand.”

“Yours, too?” Thamir let out a laugh. “Guess it’s a good thing this ear infection hit when it did, huh? We would’ve both been screwed.”

A frown etched onto Logan’s face. “…Do most students not take notes?”

Thamir shrugged. “I don’t know. Apparently not. Kind of stupid if you ask me. I think you’re the first neurotypical kid I’ve met who takes notes so far.”

Logan blinked and looked up. “What?”

“I mean, I haven’t really talked to anyone aside from my teammates and you and Roman, to be fair. I’m kind of an introvert, if I’m totally honest.”

“I’m not neurotypical,” Logan pointed out. “I’m autistic. Did… Did I seem neurotypical to you?”

“Wait, really?” Thamir asked. “I thought you were just quirky!”

Logan shook his head. “Are you neurodiverse as well?”

“Heck yeah, I am! I’m bipolar!”

“You are?”

“Yeah, I’m in a hypomanic stage right now!” Thamir laughed. “I haven’t slept in two days!”

Logan’s eyes widened. “Wh- You can’t be serious.”

He shrugged, beaming. “I don’t need it. I mean, I do- everyone needs sleep, obviously -but if I take a nap this evening, I’ll be fine.”

Shaking his head, Logan looked down to Thamir’s lap. “You’ll need to take extra care, then, if you’re unable to rest to help heal your ear infection.”

“Yeah, I know. Drink my juice and all that,” Thamir replied.

“Not just that. I mean- yes, that too, but also painkillers and heat application should help to dull the discomfort.”

A smile etched onto Thamir’s lips; he stared at him for a long beat. “You know, you’re a really smart guy, Logan.”

Logan felt his face heat up very quickly.

Before either of them had the chance to say anything else, the bell rang across campus. Thamir and Logan both glanced towards the nearest loudspeaker and back to each other.

“Time for class,” Thamir said, climbing to his feet. “Do you need me to walk you there, or can I trust you to actually go?”

Logan mirrored his actions, pulling his scroll into his hands. “I plan on going to the next one. One a day was my plan, remember?”

“Oh, right,” Thamir laughed. He smiled down at him before starting to jog backwards. “See you around, Logan! Thanks for the advice on ear stuff!”

“You’re very welcome!”

Thamir grinned once more before turning around to sprint; Logan watched for a moment before strolling forward, opening his scroll again and tapping on the search engine.

_Bipolar disorder_

* * *

He walked into his 11 am aware and uncaring of what amounts of trouble he was in. His mind was still stuck on what had happened that morning with Thamir, so much so that he’d hardly paid attention to Dr. Pecani in his last class. At this point, he was considering skipping science, too, but considering he might as well have missed the last two, he figured it would be best to try to focus for at least one of his morning classes.

Which was infinitely harder with a disappointed leader sitting next to him.

“Seriously, Logan, that was two classes in a row!” Patton huffed as the rest of the class filed in. “What’s going on? Did you lie when you said you felt fine last night?”

“Of course not, Patton, I am perfectly healthy,” Logan replied, tapping his pencil against his notebook.

“Then what’s the problem? Is it… Are you shutting down? Are you worried you’re not doing well enough? Because, Logan, you’re an incredible fighter and an even smarter-”

“Okay, class!”

The two turned their attention to Professor Peach as she slapped her hands together at the front of the room. Patton shot Logan one final glance.

“We’ll talk about this later,” he whispered.

“We’ve got a lot to talk about today. Since you’re going to Forever Fall tomorrow to get your sap samples, we’re going to review the instructions. Professor Goodwitch will do the same in the morning once you get there, but just in case she gets it wrong…”

Soft laughter echoed throughout the room.

“But, first thing’s first,” she said. “Homework.”

The laughter was replaced by sighs. She tipped her head down and waved her hands towards herself.

“I know, I know, but you knew this was coming. I’ll be around.”

Everyone around Logan was shifting through their bags and their papers, but he sat still, trying to ignore the stare he was getting from Patton. Slowly, his leader placed his paper on the desk. Logan spared him a glance and received the most disappointed look he’d ever seen Patton give.

“Logan…”

He shrugged, turning his gaze to watch Professor Peach walk down their row. “It’s fine.”

When she finally reached the two, she paused, raising an eyebrow at him. “Mr. Lyceum? Where’s your homework?”

He swallowed thickly and entered himself into Serious-Normal-Conversation mode. Taking a deep breath, he looked her in the eye. “I don’t have it.”

“Why not?”

“I was… informed that I wasn’t being social enough,” he stated. “I chose to converse with my peers over completing the required assignment.”

He ignored the quiet gasp Patton let out and focused on the sharp look Professor Peach was shooting him.

“Okay… While I can understand the need to be friendly and keep a balance of school and work,” she growled, “I suggest next time you socialize _while_ doing your work. I’m disappointed in you, Logan.”

She snatched Patton’s paper away from him and moved down the row; Logan looked to the floor. As much as he wanted to, he couldn’t ignore the ice forming next to him. He sighed.

“We’re talking about this tonight,” Patton hissed. “This isn’t okay.”

Logan shrugged, looking anywhere but at his leader.

* * *

As it turned out, they didn’t end up talking about it.

By the time they were all in their dorm that night, Patton had completely forgotten about their exchange on account of a big assignment for his and Roman’s Home Ec class that was due on Thursday. He and Roman sat up until late hours, throwing ideas back and forth while Virgil and Logan sat silently at their desks, doing their own work. As they frantically exchanged creative whims, Logan prayed they would go to bed before Patton could remember. He let out a sigh of relief when he got his wish around 11.

Unfortunately, his prayers weren’t enough to reach Virgil.

Logan had just gotten finished looking over Thamir’s notes when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He instantly pulled away, but looked up regardless as Virgil sat on his desk.

“Please don’t touch me,” Logan stated.

“Got it. Why are you up?” Virgil asked.

Leaning back in his chair, Logan pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I have work to catch up on.”

“Uh huh. And surely, all of a sudden that’s more important than the sleep schedule you so rigorously try to force on us.”

“Yes.”

Virgil crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at him. “Dude, go to bed.”

“No,” Logan protested. “It’s not that late. I will be fine.”

“It’s three in the morning!”

“I will be _fine_ ,” he repeated.

“No, you won’t,” Virgil shot back. “You’re not used to staying up late. You’re going to hate yourself tomorrow if you stay up any later.”

Rolling his eyes, Logan went back to his notes. “I have more important things to do than sleep.”

“Like what, catch up on the work that you missed playing hooky these past couple of days?”

“Yes.”

“What the heck has gotten into you?” Virgil asked, sliding off of his desk to kneel next to him. “Are you having nightmares or something? Did you get possessed? You’ve been acting weird all week!”

Logan huffed. “Virgil, sleeping is boring and unproductive. I’m not going to waste my time.”

“But-”

“Virgil. Please. I need to work.”

There was a long pause. Virgil stood and let out a sigh.

“Fine. Whatever. Be exhausted for the field trip tomorrow. It’s your choice.”

He stormed to his bed, sliding under the covers without a word. Logan swallowed thickly and turned back to his notes. After about a half an hour of just staring at the page with his mind elsewhere, he finally gave in, shutting his notebook and turning his lamp off. The room was encased in darkness. He felt his way to his bed and was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

* * *

_Water._

_Logan was drowning._

_He gasped, struggling to swim up, but it was too dark to see how far he would have to go. There was no sense of up, or down, or left or right, just water. The current battered him around as he flailed and coughed. He was going to die._

_A Grimm swam up to him, eyes piercing through the blackness surrounding them. Logan reached for his weapon, but it was missing. He watched in horror as it opened its mouth and swallowed him; his feet crunched when they hit its tongue._

_Snow._

_He fell onto his back, watching as his mother gripped her scythe in front of him. Her back was to him. Gunshots rang through the air. Logan knew this scene. His stomach flipped._

_“Mother!” he yelled._

_She looked back at him. “It’s okay, honey,” she said. “Just stay calm. I won’t let him hurt you.”_

_Terror filled him as if he didn’t know how this was going to end. He reached for her, hands tiny and shaking._

_“Mom…!”_

_Incomprehensible speaking in front of her. She whipped around and said something back. Logan hadn’t heard the exchange in years, and it wasn’t going to change tonight. She leapt forward into the shadows, fighting with a figure Logan’s brain refused to show him. He wrapped his arms around himself, shivering._

_The figure came at him. She dove, tackling him as the snow poofed into a cloud around them. Logan knew what was next. He knew he should hide his eyes, but he was never able to bring himself to do it._

_His mother crawled over to him and kneeled, reaching her hand over to place it on his shoulder. “It’s okay, honey,” she repeated. “You’re okay. You’re…”_

Logan ripped himself out of the nightmare, gasping for air as he sat up straight. He looked around wildly in an attempt to regain an understanding of his surroundings. The scars on his face tingled; he gingerly pressed his fingers against them. Gradually, his breath began to return to him. He let his eyes fall on the clock above the door.

4:17.

Suppressing a groan, Logan swallowed as best he could. There was _no way_ he was going back to sleep after that. A large part of him regretted not listening to Virgil’s advice.

His eyes drifted down until they landed on the poster on the door. Four faces beamed confidently in the moonlight. He fell still, the familiar darkness of self doubt filling his chest.

Sighing, he threw off the covers and moved towards the shower. It seemed he was up for the day.


	7. Peace of Mind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan is way too overwhelmed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTS (Part One): https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/171771732423/prvl-v1c7-peace-of-mind-bts-1  
> (Part Two): https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/171841705818/prvl-v1c7-peace-of-mind-bts-2
> 
> Warnings: a couple of mental illness jokes at the beginning (that are quickly shot down), an autistic meltdown, fighting, mention of the death of a parent

Everything was red as far as the eye could see.

The chill of the late morning settled around the class as they trudged through the crimson leaves, jars in hand and awe in eyes. Most of the students were quiet. Those who weren’t spoke softly, so not to disturb the others.

That was, of course, except for Nila Tanzer. She twirled around and squealed, blonde braids whipping around.

“It’s _gorgeous!_ ” she exclaimed. “I can’t believe there’s this much diversity in plants! I don’t think Vacuo has anything like this! This is _amazing!”_

She spun again; next to her, Lloyd held up his hands to shield himself. “Hey, hey! Watch your hair!”

“Sorry!”

He sighed and shook his head. “I swear, one of these days you’re going to drop out of Beacon to pursue botany. No sane person should ever get this excited over trees.”

Gasping, Nila held a finger at him. “Ooh! Lien in the Mental Illness Joke Jar when we get back!”

“Gah, crumbs! Sorry, Thamir.”

“Hm?”

Thamir turned his face towards the two, eyes following a second afterwards; Lloyd waved a hand at him.

“Nothing,” he replied. “I just owe you some Lien again.”

Blinking, Thamir stared at him for a beat. “Wait, what? Again?! What’d you say this time?!”

“He called me insane for thinking the trees are pretty!” Nila chirped.

Lloyd shot her a glare. “Well, when you put it like that…!”

Calanthe rolled her eyes at the three. “Alright, Bluebirds, cut the fighting,” she said. “We don’t want to attract Grimm before we get any sap.”

“Grimm? How could there be Grimm in such a gorgeous place as this one?!” Nila squealed.

The three froze at a sigh from the very front of the class. “Yes, students, the Forest of Forever Fall is, indeed, beautiful,” Professor Goodwitch called. “But we are not here to sight-see. Professor Peach has asked all of you to collect samples from the trees deep inside this forest, and I’m here to make sure none of you die while doing so.”

The group came to a stop. Professor Goodwitch held up a jar filled with thick, pink liquid.

“Each of you is to gather one jar’s worth of red sap. However, this forest is filled with the Creatures of Grimm, so be sure to stay with your teammates. We will rendezvous back here by 4 o’clock. Have fun.”

As the teams began to break off, Nila squealed and bounced up and down. “I’m so excited! Where are we going to start?”

“We could literally do it anywhere,” Lloyd laughed. “We’re not exactly short on trees here.”

“Well, yeah, but we don’t want to be near any Negative Nancies,” she retorted. “I want to fight as little Grimm as possible today.”

Calanthe nodded. “She’s got a point. Thamir, what do you think?”

The three turned to look at their tallest teammate, only to find him staring off with his brow furrowed. Calanthe followed his eyeline; she sighed and put a hand on her hip.

“Worried about Logan still?” she asked.

Thamir shot Calanthe a glance before turning back to watch Team PRVL head deeper into the forest. “I just… He’s not acting right,” he sighed. “Do you see how exhausted he looks? It’s like he barely slept!”

“So what? You hardly slept for more than a couple of hours last night,” Nila pointed out.

“That’s different.”

Humming, Calanthe reached up to put a hand on his shoulder. “Look, if it makes you feel any better, we can go with them,” she suggested. “If he’s as smart as you’ve been cooing on him for the past twenty-four hours, he’ll know when it’s time to get help, right? Maybe he’ll come to you.”

“You are the easiest of us to talk to,” Lloyd added, shooting Thamir a soft smile.

Nila beamed at him. “Yeah, he’d be insane if he went to anyone else!”

Immediately, she slapped a hand over her mouth, eyes widening; Lloyd whipped around and pointed at her.

“Ha!” he yelled. “Lien in the jar for you, too!”

Thamir rolled his eyes and smiled, shaking his head. “Alright,” he said, “Let’s go catch up to them.”

“Atta boy,” Calanthe replied, softly punching his shoulder. She lifted a hand and started to jog after the team in question. “Hey, PRVL! Wait for us!”

“Just don’t do anything to embarrass me, please,” Thamir pleaded with Nila and Lloyd.

“I can promise you we won’t do anything on purpose,” Nila giggled, hurrying after their leader.

Lloyd beamed up at him and shrugged his shoulders. “Accidental’s out of the question, though.”

Thamir laughed and put his hand on the top of Lloyd’s head to pull him along. “Come on, Shortie.”

* * *

“I told you you’d be tired.”

Logan bit back the urge to throw his jar at Virgil and storm off. Of _course_ he was tired. His stomach churned with exhaustion and his eyes were burning from all of the bright red around them and his clothes felt all wrong today and it was a change in schedule and the fact that his train of thought of complaints had lasted this long without a clear end to the sentence was enough to tell him that. He didn’t need Virgil to state the obviously and bring the others into it, especially since Team CTLN had decided to join them. Yet here they were…

“Have a rough night, kiddo?” Patton asked, putting a hand on Logan’s shoulder. He instantly ripped himself away and reached up to rub away the tingles the contact had made.

“I’m fine. Don’t touch me,” he huffed.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Thamir and Calanthe exchange a look; his face heated, and he turned back to his jar that was slowly filling with sap. It hurt his eyes, but it was better than eye contact.

A laugh sounded behind him. “Aw, you and Thamir could have hung out!” he heard Nila exclaim.

CTLN and the rest of PRVL fell into a conversation that turned to mush in Logan’s head as Nila’s words tumbled around, begging to be processed. He knew it was important, he knew _something_ in that statement needed to be addressed, but it remained meaningless for a minute or two longer.

When it did process, however, Logan felt his heart stop.

“Did you not sleep last night, Thamir?” he asked, refusing to look at the others.

There was a pause. Logan tilted his head just enough to see the feet in vision pointed towards him. One pair walked over, and then Thamir was sitting on the ground next to him, leaning back against the tree. He said something, and it took Logan a long moment to process it between the clinking of glass jars that were suddenly excruciatingly loud and the others’ speaking that _must_ have been yelling for some inexplicable reason.

_I didn’t,_ Thamir had said. _Did you?_

Words were becoming very hard to form. “I didn’t,” Logan finally replied. “Not more than an hour.”

Thamir spoke again. The process started all over again.

_Are you doing okay?_

Logan took a deep breath and shook his head. “I believe I’m beginning to have a meltdown,” he stated. Scripted words were easier than new responses, and he was happy to have a question asked that had a pre-determined answer. “I’ll be okay. I’m sorry if I am bad at communication or take longer for formulate responses. It is very hard for me to process my surroundings right now.”

Thamir spoke.

_Is there anything I can do?_

He shook his head.

_Do you need me to leave you alone?_

His mind went silent aside from the noises repeating in his head. Normally, yes, Logan would much prefer to handle a meltdown or shutdown on his own. It left very little chance to be spoken to and less need to waste energy on processing his surroundings. When someone was close to him, the area where he could feel their presence on him would feel like it was on fire. Another person in his space set off anxiety about needing to be presentable, to do something to socialize, to act like he wasn’t autistic. Even after years of therapy to tell him he didn’t _need_ to act like that and that he needed to take care of himself, he always reverted back to that state of mind when he was at his worst. Being at his worst always made him want any other human or faunus as far away from him as possible.

And yet… Something inside of him selfishly _wanted_ Thamir to stay. His presence-area was calming his crawling skin instead of setting it ablaze. Something wasn’t right when it came to Thamir and it was a break in routine and that should be making the meltdown come on much faster but it wasn’t and it was wrong but it didn’t _feel_ wrong…

Thamir said something; Logan’s brain stopped racing to process.

_I’ll be with Calanthe if you need me._

As soon as the words made sense in Logan’s mind, Thamir stood and took a step. Logan shot his hand out to grab his wrist, shaking his head frantically and daring himself to look Thamir in the face for just a second before his jar collided with the ground and let out an excruciatingly loud _thunk_. He winced, but still kept his eyes on Thamir’s chest as he shook his head again.

This close to eye contact, and nothing hurt. This was different. Logan knew he should have been freaked out, but he wasn’t. What the heck was wrong with him?

Slowly, Thamir lowered himself back to the ground. Logan released his wrist.

_Okay,_ he had said, a laugh in his voice. _I’m here._

Logan went to pick up his jar, but the sap had spilled all over; he could feel his skin crawling at the stickiness before he even touched it. He tried once, twice, three times to pick it up, but his hands bounced off of an invisible barrier each time. Thamir reached out and did it for him.

_I can hold it, if you’d like. Calanthe already has my jar._

Logan nodded. His vision began to blur as his head spun. He felt his muscles tensing up; a moment later, his skin started to sting, and he glanced down to watch himself scratching furiously at his biceps. It helped the crawling skin, though he _knew_ it was a self-injurious stim.

Hands gripped his forearms over the metal and pulled his own hands away. Thamir’s voice reached his ears, but there was no processing it this time. Logan needed to get out of here. He needed out, he needed out, he needed out. Why weren’t his legs moving?

Another hand touched his back; his clothes felt like they were on fire. He heard Patton gently ask something. Thamir said something back. Patton spoke again, and this time it processed immediately.

“He doesn’t look like he’s okay…”

“ ** _Falsehood!_ ”**

The scream erupted out of his mouth before he could stop it. A blast of wind crashed into him and ice hit his legs- Logan knew it was an outside sensation, but he couldn’t remember where from, but he knew he needed it off. He felt eyes on him, eyes that weren’t meant to burn but hurt regardless. He frantically punched at the ice anchoring him to the ground until it broke off, and then he got up and bolted, squeezing his eyes shut and ignoring Thamir’s voice calling after him.

Everything was bad and he needed away and he needed to be alone and everything felt wrong wrong _wrong_ and everything hurt-

He heard a weird noise. He stopped and opened his eyes. He couldn’t see much, but there was a big blur of black and white in front of him, sticking out of the awful sea of red. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that was bad.

He smelled coffee. Why was there coffee?

Brown dots flew in view and exploded against the black and white; the noise rattled Logan’s eardrums, and he dropped to the ground, throwing his hands up to cover his ears. His eyes squeezed shut as a wind began to whip around. Muffled clinking of metal against bone made its way through his fingers, and he whimpered.

When the distinctive, pungent smell of evaporating Grimm hit his nose, he broke.

Logan ripped his hands away from his ears in favor of whipping his arms up and down in front of himself, scratching at his biceps any time they were close enough. His breathing dissolved into wheezing sobs, and he internally hissed at himself. Why was he crying? There was no need for crying. _Bad bad bad bad bad!_

“Logan.”

“Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe,” Logan hissed. He moved to sit on his knees and began to rock back and forth, ripping the glasses off of his face and throwing them to the side.

“Logan, it’s okay.”

“No, no, no, no, no!”

“It’s okay. It’s okay. Breathe. Deep breaths.”

Logan sobbed and tried to wrap his arms around himself, but a pair of hands gripped his wrists. It should hurt, it should hurt, why wasn’t it hurting?

“Hey, hey! I know you’re freaked out, but you’re not allowed to scratch, okay? No scratching.”

He frantically shook his head. “Hurts, hurts, hurts!”

“I know, that’s why you aren’t allowed.”

“No!” Logan yelped. “Not- Isn’t- Bad bad bad bad _bad!”_

Ripping his hands away, Logan fell onto his rear and pulled his knees to meet with his forehead. He rocked and sobbed and silently screamed and shifted positions back and forth for what felt like forever, until his throat was raw, his body ached, and there were no more tears left to cry. A hand remained somewhere on him through the whole thing.

When the only thing he had the energy left to do was shake, he finally cracked his burning eyes open. He was laying on his side- when he’d fallen into that position, he had no idea -and someone wearing blue pants was sitting cross-legged in front of him. Whoever it was, Logan vaguely recognized, was rubbing little circles on his bicep. On any normal day, he would pull away, but it felt… nice.

“Are you feeling any better?” the person muttered.

Ah. Thamir. Logan felt his face heat.

Slowly, he nodded and forced himself to sit up. He went to verbalize the affirmation, but his tongue was heavy and glued to the roof of his mouth. A whimper fell out instead, and he wrapped his arms around himself again.

Thamir moved his hand to Logan’s leg. “Hey, hey, it’s okay,” he whispered. “You’re okay.”

Logan swallowed thickly and tried again to speak. Slowly, his tongue peeled itself away from the cartilage. “’M sorry,” he croaked.

“Nah, you shouldn’t be,” Thamir replied without hesitation. “You can’t control it. That’s not your fault.”

Shutting his eyes again, Logan turned his face towards the ground. “Still bad,” he mumbled.

“No, it’s not. You’re not. You were overwhelmed. It’s okay. Everyone has bad days, but that doesn’t make you bad.”

Thamir pulled Logan’s fists open and pressed his glasses into his palm; he opened his eyes to look at them, but his vision blurred over again before he could. Wetness dripped down his cheeks. The edges of his lips twitched down.

He swallowed thickly. “Not… enough,” he whispered. “’M not enough.”

Weak sobs pulled at him. He wrapped his arms around himself, and then pulled his left hand back to grip the pendant on his necklace. Thamir pulled him into a hug.

“No,” he firmly stated. “You are enough. Don’t think those things. Just because you had a meltdown, doesn’t mean you’re any less. Okay?”

Logan didn’t agree. He was too tired to argue. He nodded.

They stayed like that for a long while. Logan shut his eyes and let himself melt into the touch. He still didn’t understand why it didn’t hurt, but at this point, he didn’t care. He was craving some positive sensory input, and he was happy to accept it from Thamir.

Thamir let out a breath after a while. “We should go back soon,” he muttered. “Your teammates are worried sick about you, you know.”

A whine came out of Logan before he could stop it; Thamir laughed softly before he pulled away.

“Yeah, come on,” he said. He climbed to his feet and held a hand out to Logan. He rubbed his eyes one more time before replacing his glasses and taking it. Once standing, a large yawn wracked his entire body. Thamir mirrored him, and then began to laugh.

“Don’t do that! It’s contagious,” he giggled. “Guess we’re both exhausted. I can’t imagine how drained you are after that.”

Thamir put his arm around Logan and began to lead him back to where the others presumably were. Logan nodded and glued his eyes to the ground.

“Incredibly.”

Humming, Thamir looked to the treetops. “Well, we’ll be heading back to Beacon soon,” he pointed out. “Maybe we can take a nap on the way back.”

“Can’t take naps,” Logan replied.

Thamir looked at him. “Why not?”

He shrugged. “Unable.”

“Well… We can try, can’t we?”

Sighing, Logan slowly nodded. “Suppose.”

* * *

It was three a.m. again. Logan sat silently on his bed, wavering back and forth as he stared at the poster of Team BYRD. He was so tired- so, so tired. But he wasn’t allowed to go to bed. Not until at least five. He refused. Still, his eyelids drooped and his head swam as he struggled to stay conscious.

There was a sigh on the other side of the room, pulling him out of his muddled thoughts. He glanced over to see Virgil looking at him from where he sat on top of his desk. His arms were crossed, and an eyebrow raised. Logan was aware that he appeared to be feeling a negative emotion, but he couldn’t figure out which one.

“Are we gonna do this every night?” Virgil asked.

Logan reached up and rubbed at his eyes. “I am unaware of what you’re referring to,” he mumbled.

Rolling his eyes, Virgil shook his head. “Logan. Go back to bed.”

“No.”

“Logan.”

“It’s unnecessary. I’ve already slept for nine hours.”

“Clearly it was restful, since you’ve been ready to pass out for the past two hours,” Virgil pointed out.

Logan glared at him and turned to look at the wall. “I’m perfectly fine,” he grumbled.

“You’re not,” Virgil snapped. “You’re moody, lazy, and exhausted. You’re turning into me, and that’s _not_ okay. What the heck is up with you?”

“What’s _up_ with me is that I’m-!”

He clamped down on his tongue before the words could finish leaving his mouth. _That I’m not good enough. I’m not reaching the potential everyone assumes I have. Mother would be disappointed in me, and I’m disappointed in me, too._

“That you’re what?” Virgil asked.

“Nothing.”

“Logan…”

“I said, it’s nothing. Go back to your… groveling, or whatever it is you do at three in the-”

A groan broke through his words; Logan and Virgil froze while Roman’s wings fluttered and he shifted in his sleep. They remained silent for a good moment once he’d settled.

Finally, Virgil huffed and pushed himself off of the desk. “Come out here,” he whispered, gingerly pulling the door open. Logan pushed past any worry he had and did as told.

As soon as the door was shut behind them, Virgil crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “We want to help you,” he growled. “Okay? That’s all we want. We’re worried _sick_ over you, Lo. You haven’t been eating, you haven’t been sleeping- except, apparently, when you’re on an aircraft curled up next to your stupid crush -you haven’t been acting like yourself at all. What the heck is going on? And I’m not taking your stupid ‘nothing’ for an answer! Alright?”

Logan glared at him for a long moment. “I do not have a crush on Thamir.”

“That wasn’t the question. And even if it was, you’re lying.”

“I’m not. I’m not interested in boys at all. I’m heterosexual.”

Virgil stared at him. He glanced at the door, and then back to Logan. “Are you- Wait… So… Team BYRD-?”

Eyes widening, Logan frantically shook his head. “ _Absolutely_ not! No!”

“But you stare at-”

“I don’t even _like_ Team BYRD! I look at the poster because the bright colors of their outfits are appealing to the eye and capture one’s attention! I have absolutely no desire to have _anything_ to do with Team BYRD!”

Virgil held up his hands. “Alright, I get it! You changed the subject. Don’t think I didn’t notice. What’s going on?”

Letting out a deep breath, Logan reached up to adjust his glasses, only to remember they were still in the dorm. He settled instead for rubbing his eyes. “…Must I tell you?”

“Yes,” Virgil answered. “We can’t help you if we don’t know what’s going on. Talking about it might help, anyway.”

Logan leaned against the wall and slid to the floor. Silently, he stared at the carpet for a long moment. Virgil sat on the other side of the door frame and watched.

“…I…” Logan let out a sigh. “Do you recall Trix’s statements on Saturday?”

Virgil’s eyes darted around the hall. “Uh… Telling us to not tell Patton what a dilf is because it’s funnier that way?”

“Not that, though I do still very much disagree with her. If we tell him, there’s significantly less of a chance that he’s going to repeat calling himself-”

“Logan. Tangent.”

“Yes. Sorry. I was referring to what she said about how Team BYRD acted,” Logan explained. “I may not be a big fan, but there’s no denying they were a respected and… Well, a great team. A team that many strive to be as good as, and we… We should be no exception.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “And?”

He kept his eyes glued to the carpet. “Trix also suggested that I… Don’t have a great balance between work and recreation, and I think she was right. I’ve recounted how I’ve acted for most of my life and the things she said were true. I am what many would see as boring and antisocial, and I hardly ever break the rules. Up until now, I was unaware that a balance between the two was necessary. I’m simply trying to learn how to make up for my errors.”

There was silence. Logan forced himself to look at Virgil to find his teammate staring at him, brow furrowed. He glanced away and back, unsure of how to respond.

“Should I… Continue explaining?”

“Is there more _to_ explain?”

“I… suppose.”

“Keep talking, Pocket Protector.”

Logan deflated, looking back to the floor. “Well… I grew up under a lot of pressure to do exceptionally. My parents were both Hunters- Father the first in his family as a marvel of genetics, and Mother the most successful in an ancestry. Many people believe that because I am a product of their genetics, I will go on to be an amazing Huntsman.”

His eyes drooped to his hands, where he picked at his fingernails. He felt his voice fall a little softer. “Everyone assumes that I will end up being better than even my mother was. When she passed away, people believed it would help me in my grieving to tell me that she would be proud of me, and they make a point to continue to tell me that today. But… I am starting to be under the impression that it has… worsened my mental health.”

Hands falling into his lap, Logan looked at Virgil. “All of these people assume they knew her, in the same way people assume they know you and assume they know me. But no one _really_ knows anyone. Unless one has a telepathic Semblance, it’s impossible to know what another is thinking. So how could they know if she was proud of me?” He looked at the wall and lifted his hands, exasperated. “How could they know where the line is between pride and disappointment? Mother _must_ have had high expectations for how successful she was! How can I ever know where that line fell? How can-?”

His voice cracked; Logan caught his vision blurring further than it was already. His shoulders dropped as he wiped at his eyes.

“How can I ever know where _I_ fall?” he whispered.

Logan squeezed his eyes shut, willing the tears to stay hidden as he swallowed away the lump in his throat. There was shuffling, and then he heard the door rattle as Virgil leaned against it.

They were quiet for a long beat.

Finally, he heard Virgil take in a breath. “…You don’t know,” he said. “And you’re never going to.”

Logan wiped at his eyes, letting his hand fall into his lap again.

“I know it’s hard to hear, but there’s nothing you can do about it. All you can do is speculate and imagine what she’d think, and trust me, dude, you’re only going to worry yourself in circles thinking like that. But… I highly doubt doing what you’re doing now would’ve gotten you on the side you want to be,” Virgil continued. “You’re right in that there’s a balance between work and play, but what work is and what play is isn’t the same for everyone. Rebelling the way that you are isn’t helping you with anything, Logan.”

“How do I know?” he asked, looking at Virgil’s knees. “What constitutes as work? What doesn’t?”

Shrugging, Virgil shook his head. “It depends on you. What do you like?”

“Well…” Logan’s eyes lifted to look at the wallpaper as his mind turned. “I… enjoy astronomy. And learning, and my special interests- talking about them, too…”

“Okay, so you’re doing what you enjoy when you study, right?” Virgil asked.

Logan slowly nodded. “Yes, very much.”

“Then it falls under both ‘work’ and ‘play’. Lucky you. It pays off to be a nerd.”

He frowned, looking at him. “But… Trix stated that-”

“Trix doesn’t know you,” Virgil cut off. “Didn’t you just say that no one really knows anyone else? Why would Trix be an exception to that? Is _her_ Semblance reading people’s minds?”

“What? No, that’s ridiculous. Her Semblance is an increase in strength when she’s near someone she’s formed a bond with.”

Virgil held out his hands. “There’s no reason she would know anything about you. Just because something’s boring or antisocial to her doesn’t mean it’s boring or antisocial to you. Everyone’s different. Breaking the rules is a different matter, but have you heard the stories Roman’s told about how much trouble she gets into? I don’t think I’d take her advice on rebelling, if I were you.”

Logan was silent; Virgil leaned back to lay on the floor, propping himself up on one elbow.

“You’ve gotta get back to normal, man,” he said. “You need to sleep, and to eat, and do your homework, and go to class. Patton’s gonna have an aneurysm if you keep this up. That, or burn down the place while declaring his love for you. Either of which isn’t ideal.”

“If I have to do these things, then so do you,” Logan shot back. “I have yet to see you hold up a healthy routine with most of those points that you listed.”

“I go to class!”

“I said most, not all.”

Scoffing, Virgil rolled his eyes. “So, what? I don’t eat breakfast or get eight hours of sleep a night. Big deal.”

“It’s not only that,” Logan said. “You eat very little for someone as tall as you are, and lack of sleep can lead to a multitude of problems. Not to mention the fact that not doing your homework is going to make your grades lower tremendously-”

“Alright, alright, I get it,” Virgil interrupted, climbing to his feet. “Since it’s such a big deal to you, let’s just go to bed now. It’s only 3:30.”

While Virgil pulled his scroll out of his pocket, Logan stood and nodded. “Yes, that does seem like it would be ideal, especially considering you haven’t had any sleep tonight.”

The door unlocked, and they shut off the top light as they went in, bidding each other goodnight before crawling under their covers. Moonlight shone through the window and cast a soft glow on the room. Logan was grateful.

As he settled into his pillow, his eyes fell to the Team BYRD poster. The four smiling faces caused a tired one to form on his. He reached onto his bed post to grab his necklace and held it close to his chest as he shut his eyes and fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


	8. Search and Rescue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil’s Uncle comes for a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Fighting, Grimm death, mentions of past cheating on partners, faunus discrimination
> 
> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/172003440063/prvl-v1c8-search-and-rescue-behind-the-scenes

As they were everywhere else in the world, weekends were the event most looked forward to at Beacon Academy. Between the chance to catch up on homework, relaxing with friends, or taking a trip into Vale to run some errands, a break from class was something everyone needed by the time Friday rolled around. For some, it was even the most productive two days of the week.

“We are _not_ wasting the whole Saturday in Vale.”

“Why not? We waste every other weekend on homework!”

“How is working on homework wasteful of our time?!”

For others, it was the most argumentative.

Roman put his hands on his hips and glared. “We are over halfway through the semester and Virgil has hardly seen _anything_ outside of this dreary school so far! Some things are _much_ more important than homework, Logan!”

“We’ve got seven and a half semesters left at Beacon. There is plenty of time to visit Vale on breaks,” Logan shot back.

“But why wait seven weeks when we can go _now?_ ”

Rolling his eyes, Virgil kept his focus on his scroll. “Guys, I really don’t care about seeing Vale,” he repeated. “It’s probably going to be busy and dangerous anyway. Haven’t you heard about all of the Dust robberies lately?”

“Aw, but Virge! Vale’s a nice city!” Patton exclaimed. He flopped onto Virgil’s bed, cloak settling on his back as he lay on his stomach. “Besides, I doubt anyone will rob any place in broad daylight, right?”

“That doesn’t make it safe,” Virgil replied.

Roman crossed his arms and huffed. “True, there’s probably members of the disgusting White Fang everywhere you look… But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t go! You need that experience, Virgil!”

There was a knock at the door; Virgil set his scroll to the side and got up to answer it.

“The only experience I need is the stuff I need to be a good Huntsman,” he called over his shoulder. He swung the door open as Roman rolled his eyes. “Besides, it’s not li-”

Virgil screamed and disappeared out of the door as the other three jumped out of their skins. A heavy _thud_ rang out through the room; two sets of loud laughter followed soon after. The three scurried to the door to see Virgil on the floor, laying on top of a stranger with long, jet black hair.

“What in the world is going on here?!” Roman exclaimed.

Virgil rolled off of the person and sat on his knees as the other pushed themselves onto their elbows. Grins were plastered on both of their faces, and when the stranger looked at Virgil, he looked as if he was looking at the stars and galaxies.

“What are you doing here?!” Virgil yelled. “Dad said you were gonna be on a mission in Atlas until after the Vytal Festival was over!”

The stranger waved a hand. “Ahh, what does he know? He’s just a dumb sales associate. Doesn’t know anything about the life of a Huntsman, does he?”

“Well, he’s gotta know a _little_ , for the amount of Dust he sells…”

“He only knows that much because I taught him so,” the stranger declared. “Had to teach him _some_ stuff, or else my little bro wouldn’t know how to defend himself.”

The grin on Virgil’s face faltered a bit; the stranger gestured to the door.

“So… Who’re your friends?”

Just like that, the glow was back. Virgil beamed at his teammates and looked back to the stranger.

“These are my teammates! That’s Patton, Roman, Logan. Guys, this is my Uncle Chao! He’s a Huntsman,” Virgil explained.

“Ohh, your uncle! That’s awesome! Hi!” Patton exclaimed.

“Greetings!” Roman said.

Logan tipped his glasses. “Salutations. Are you two planning on spending the whole day on the floor?”

Laughing, Chao got to his feet and brushed the dust off of his black and white cape. “Nice to meet you all,” he said. “You’re getting along with my nephew alright, aren’t you? He’s not causing you any trouble?”

Roman hummed. “Well-”

“Don’t embarrass me,” Virgil laughed, standing. “It’s not like _you_ got along perfectly with your teammates at Haven.”

Chao glared at him. “What have I told you about bringing up Team TTNC?”

“To not.”

“Then don’t.”

“But Dad does it all the time.”

“Well, your dad’s an idiot.”

Logan adjusted his glasses. “I don’t see the family resemblance…”

“Really? You can’t see that they’re both annoying and rude?” Roman asked.

“Mm, I was thinking more of the purple shirts with the mismatched sleeve lengths,” Patton pointed out. “Oh, and the chest plate armor!”

“But they look nothing alike,” Logan said. “Genetically speaking, they have nothing in common!”

“Family doesn’t have to be by blood,” Patton replied.

“No, but they’re related!”

“So? You two practically have the same face, and you’re not related,” Roman said. “Who says it can’t be the other way around?”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “What? Patton and I look nothing alike.”

“You both wear glasses!”

“Do you know how many people in the world wear glasses?!”

Chao leaned over to Virgil. “I can see how you guys get so much done,” he muttered.

Laughing, Virgil pushed past his teammates to lead him into the dorm. “Come on, you never answered my question! Tell us what happened on your last mission!”

The others followed; Chao paused to look around once inside. “Well, I can certainly tell which desk is yours.”

“Ooh, really?!” Patton exclaimed.

Virgil jumped over to sit on his desk, careful to avoid the mountain of papers that had been delicately pushed to the side to form a small space for him to fit; instead of placing his feet on the chair like normal, he let them dangle freely over the edge. “Come on, don’t change the subject! Will you _please_ tell us about your mission?”

He sighed. “Virge.”

“What happened that made you able to leave so early?” Virgil continued, ignoring him “Did you finish your mission that fast?”

“Yes, did you clear out all of the Grimm in an abandoned village?” Roman asked.

“Perhaps you managed to escort a group of civilians across unsafe areas in such an efficient manner that the time it was pre-determined to take ended up being severely underestimated?” Logan questioned.

“Did you storm a tower and save a princess and slay a dragon?!” Patton exclaimed.

Roman let out a yelp, wings fluttering as he jumped back a couple of feet; Logan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

“That’s not a mission Hunters go on, Patton…”

“Hail, our knowledgeable leader,” Virgil laughed. “No, but seriously! You were going after that faunus again, weren’t you? Did you finally catch-”

“That’s _enough_ ,” Chao barked. “Listen, the mission’s over, and that’s all you need to know, alright? Top-Secret Hunter Business there.”

Virgil frowned. “It’s never been top-secret before…”

“To answer your very first question,” Chao continued, “I was assigned a new mission here in Vale and happened to be in the area. Figured it was time to give my favorite nephew a visit and see what he’s up to.”

Patton cooed, folding his hands together. “He’s your favorite nephew?”

“His _only_ nephew,” Virgil pointed out.

“Still cute…”

Logan cleared his throat. “So, what type of a mission were you assigned? Search and destroy, bounty…?”

Reaching up to put his hands behind his head, a smile formed on Chao’s lips. “Search and rescue, actually. Some civilian from another Kingdom got lost on his way to a village outside of the city. Last anyone saw him, he was in the Emerald Forest.”

“Oh, we know our way around there!” Patton chimed in. “Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch threw us in there on our first day with no supervision! That place is just _full_ of Grimm, lemme tell you-”

“They did _what?!_ ”

Virgil leapt off of his desk, waving his hands in front of him frantically. “It’s fine, it’s fine! We handled it!”

“On your first day?!”

“Well, they have to make sure we’re ready _somehow_ ,” Roman said.

Chao shook his head. “And I thought Lionheart throwing us into a tournament at the end of first semester was bad… I’m telling you, Virge, it’s not too late to transfer to Haven if Ozpin’s too out of his mind for you.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “I’d rather give _X-Ray and Vav_ for the rest of my life.”

“Oof, you really hate Haven, huh?”

“I don’t _hate_ it. I just refuse to attend it under any circumstances.”

Logan raised an eyebrow. “What makes you so against it? Haven Academy seems like a very adequate school to attend. I would have gone there myself, had I decided to leave Vale.”

“Oh, no, I’m sure the school’s fine,” Virgil replied, “If you’re ready to be taught by a wimpy headmaster and be less skilled as a Hunter as you could have been, that is.”

Crossing his arms, Chao glared at him. “Keep those lies and slander up, and I’ll have to reconsider inviting the four of you to help me out on this mission…”

Four sets of brown eyes blinked.

“…Inviting _us?!_ ” Patton squealed.

Roman flew over to Virgil, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him. “Take it back, take it back!”

“Alright, alright! I take it back!”

“You really believe the four of us are capable of a real mission in the field?” Logan asked.

Roman released him, whipping around to look at Chao. “I am _honored_ you think so highly of us after only just meeting us a few minutes ago!”

Chao scoffed. “Please, you think I just heard of you? Virge has been gushing about you all since the semester started.”

They all turned to look at Virgil, whose face had turned a bright shade of red. Glancing at the others, he swallowed thickly and raised an eyebrow at his uncle.

“H-How did you…?”

“Come on, Virge, did you really think your dad was capable of keeping his mouth shut for more than two minutes?” Chao laughed.

A loud coo broke through the air, and Patton tackled Virgil in a tight hug.

“You love us!”

“That gossiping buttface,” Virgil hissed.

“So… Is this a yes from all of you?” Chao asked, looking around at each member of the team. “No one’s going to spend their Saturday locked away, studying their brain out?”

Roman shot Logan a pointed look. “I dunno, is there? _I_ certainly am coming along.”

Rolling his eyes, Logan adjusted his glasses. “Of course I am, as well,” he shot back. “It’s a valuable opportunity, especially since first years at Beacon don’t get to go on missions until our job shadowing next semester.”

“W- You job shadow your _second semester?!_ ”

“I want to come!” Patton exclaimed. “If it’s still okay, that is!”

The Vengiers looked at each other; Virgil smirked and shook his head.

“What, you think I’m gonna say no?” he laughed.

Chao slapped his hands together and punched the air. “Alright, kids, let’s get going then! Get your weapons! The airship’s not gonna wait for us all day!”

Without another word, the Huntsman ran out of the dorm; PRVL grabbed their scrolls and scurried after him.

* * *

“Roll left!”

Virgil dove to the side as Chao launched over him, spiked hammer slamming onto the Ursa’s head. As it roared, Chao spun onto its back and used the handle to choke it. He looked at his nephew.

“Now!”

Virgil threw his pole into shotgun mode and sent five rounds into the Grimm’s chest; its roar echoed through the Emerald Forest as it collapsed. Chao swung off just before it hit the ground and watched as it started to evaporate. Virgil ran over to join him, and he clapped a hand on his shoulder.

“Getting pretty good with that weapon of yours, huh?” he said. “Might be time for an upgrade.”

Rolling his eyes, Virgil turned to walk towards where the rest of Team PRVL was waiting at the edge of the clearing. “Listen, I like Sangria Salvia the way that it is. It gets the job done just fine as it is.”

“But it could be better…”

Patton raised an eyebrow at them. “Who’s Sangria Salvia?”

Virgil held up his pole without a word; Roman scoffed and crossed his arms.

“What kind of a name is that?” he laughed.

Shooting him a glare, Virgil gestured to Roman’s sword. “I doubt your weapon’s name is any better.”

Roman let out a gasp. “How dare you speak of Autumn Amaryllis like that!”

Patton’s widened eyes darted around, looking at each of their weapons and then at his own. He opened his mouth, but Logan sighed before any words could come out.

“Arguing is just going to attract more Grimm,” he pointed out.

“We’re not _arguing_ ,” Roman huffed.

Chao laughed as he walked over. “You definitely all fooled me, then. I’m sure it’ll fool the Grimm, too.”

Virgil turned to him. “Which of our weapons has the best name? You decide!”

“Virgil, please, this is ridiculous… Obviously, he’s choosing mine,” Roman said.

“We’ll see about that!”

Humming, Chao tapped on his chin. “I’d say… the better name is… Not something I can choose.”

“What?!”

“Why not?!”

He held up his hands. “It’s unfair! I don’t know the names of Patton’s or Logan’s!”

Logan blinked. “Oh. Um. Well, I named mine Malgre Myosotis, after the blossom of the Boraginaceae family-”

“Yes, yes, nerd stuff, we get it- Patton?”

The leader looked at them all for a beat, and then he stared down at his shield for a long minute. He pressed his lips together in thought. Finally, he turned back to them, features hesitant and voice quiet.

“…Dave,” he stated.

They stared.

“…What sort of a name is that?” Logan asked.

Patton shrugged. “I dunno. I just made it up. I didn’t know weapons had names.”

Roman sighed, putting his face in his hands. “Of course. You didn’t even know who Team BYRD was; why should we expect you to know one of their biggest influences on Hunter culture?”

“Well, I like it!” Chao laughed. “Patton wins! Now come on, we can’t keep this guy waiting.”

He headed off into the trees, allowing Team PRVL to trail after him. Logan jogged to catch up to him and raised an eyebrow.

“Does your weapon have a name?” he asked.

Chao lifted his hammer and inspected it for a moment. “Well… I used to call it Fervent Catmint,” he said, “But I’m starting to consider calling it… Patrick.”

Logan frowned. “What for?”

“Just seems like a good name,” Chao replied, shooting a smirk back at the beaming Patton.

“Hm. Is it any relation to the main artist of _X-Ray and Vav_?” Logan continued. “I don’t recall his last name, but I recently read a web article about him. He’s apparently one of the most well-known weapons designers in Vale.”

“You’re a fan of that comic, too?”

“Yes. Virgil introduced me to it. It’s become a special interest of mine,” Logan said. “Hopefully sometime soon, I can find the time to go into Vale to purchase the comics myself, but for now, all that I’m able to do is read the synopsis and learn all that I can about the creation of it.”

Chao whipped around. “Virge!”

“What?”

“Why aren’t you letting him read your copies?”

Virgil raised his hands. “I left them in Mistral! Sorry I don’t bring an entire box of comic books that I won’t have the time to read everywhere I go!”

“Ugh, you nerds and your comics,” Roman groaned. “When are you going to grow up and get into some _real_ entertainment?”

Virgil glared. “Like what, your stupid theatre stuff?”

“Theatre is _not_ stupid,” he growled. “It is an art! A lot of time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears go into each and every production! It’s-”

“Frivolous make-believe?” Logan interrupted.

“Excuse me?!”

“Boys, play nice,” Patton commanded. “We all have our likes and dislikes.”

Roman crossed his arms and glared at the ground. “They started it…”

“I don’t care who started it. I’m ending it.”

There was a beat of silence. Roman huffed and shoved his hands into his pockets, flicking his head to get a stray strand of hair out of his eyes. Chao looked at him and raised an eyebrow.

“Are those wings as strong as they look?” he asked.

Eyes widening, Roman snapped his head up. “Yes!” he replied. “I’ll have you know I’m the fastest faunus I know! I once outflew-”

“Lemme guess, a Nevermore?” Virgil asked.

“Hey, I don’t remember asking _you_ ,” Chao teased. “What were you saying, Roman?”

He shot Virgil a winning smirk before turning back to the Huntsman. “I once outflew a Nevermore,” he repeated.

“Oh, really? I’ll bet it was a pretty fast one, too, right?”

“It was! My brother said he’d never seen one fly that fast,” Roman said, “But _I_ was faster.”

“Oi,” Virgil whispered. Logan snorted and looked at Chao.

“Who are we searching for, again?” he asked.

Chao put his hands behind his head. “Some guy named Amnon Haber. According to the Mission Board, the guy’s an Atlas Academy drop out. Apparently, he came to Vale to visit a friend of his. I heard from some other Huntsmen who studied with him that he got wrapped up in some crime ring as soon as he was out of school. Some of them think he got jumped on his way to the village.”

Virgil’s stomach flipped; furrowing his brow, he looked to the ground, mind racing.

“Wait… So you’re saying this guy’s a wanted criminal?” Roman said, “And you’re bringing _students_ to help find him?”

“If that’s the case, why was this mission labeled Search and Rescue instead of Bounty?” Logan questioned.

“It’s all rumors. There’s no proof this guy’s a bad egg,” Chao reassured. “Most Search and Rescues get talk like this. There’s nothing to worry about. People get bored doing the same thing over and over, so they make up some crazy stories to make it more exciting.”

Patton perked up. “Oh! Like Roman does!”

“What- I do _not_ make up stories!”

Virgil lifted his gaze to look at Chao’s back; his brow stayed furrowed as he hesitantly opened his mouth. “Uncle Chao… Didn’t you tell Dad your last mission was in Atlas?” he quietly asked. “What if this has some connection to that?”

There was a beat of silence. Virgil’s heart began to pound.

Finally, Chao let out a sigh and cast a glance at his nephew over his shoulder. “There’s a million what-if’s under the sun, Virge,” he firmly stated. “Stop bringing up the mission.”

An ice cold pebble dropped into his stomach. “But-”

“ _Virgil_.”

He fell silent. Chao returned his gaze to the front. A tense silence filled the air.

Something pressed against Virgil’s shoulder, and he turned to see Patton sidled up against him, offering a sympathetic smile. Virgil returned it with a half-hearted smirk before looking to the dirt.

Roman’s wings fluttered. “What in the world…?”

The others turned to watch him fly into the air and shoot down through the trees. When he landed a few hundred feet away, he dropped to his knees. Logan was the first to start running after him, but the others were close behind.

“What’s wrong?” Logan called.

Climbing to his feet, Roman turned and held up a dark green satchel. “Uh… Does this look at all familiar, Chao?” he asked.

Chao slowed to a stop and took the bag out of his hands. His eyes flicked over it while he stood in silence, brow furrowed.

A gasp broke the quiet, and Patton pointed down. “Look!” he exclaimed.

Everyone looked to find a set of footprints in the dirt, the tracks belonging to someone with much bigger feet than any of them. As Chao and Logan kneeled to look closer, Roman let out a laugh.

“Feels like we should have a talking dog with us, does it not?” he commented.

Virgil rolled his eyes. “We’ve got you, that’s close enough.”

Patton glared sharply at him. “Now, Virgil, we all know the Mystery Bunch has a dog, not a dragon.”

Sighing, Roman rolled his eyes and said nothing else.

“This certainly gives us a lead,” Chao finally said, getting to his feet. “Come on, we should hurry. This guy’s been out here for a while.”

He briskly started following the tracks; Logan stood and shot a raised eyebrow at Roman and Virgil.

“Which means there’s no need for bickering. Fighting Grimm will only delay us from our mission,” he pointed out.

“Wow, Lo, didn’t know you were the new leader,” Roman chided.

Logan shook his head and followed Chao, other three right behind him.

“Let’s just get going.”

* * *

They must have followed the footprints for nearly an hour before they found anything.

It was a miracle that nothing had attacked them. Between the bickering, concern, and the fear gnawing at Virgil’s gut, it almost seemed like PRVL and Chao should be Grimm Central, but it was practically uneventful. There had even been a point when Chao got wrapped up in a debate between Logan and Roman, and an ice cold hand had hesitantly grabbed onto Virgil’s. They were all just a bunch of tired, frustrated, Negative Nancies.

And then the trail led to the mouth of a cave, and everyone was silent for at least a solid minute.

Chao rubbed his upper lip, brow furrowing. “This… doesn’t bode well,” he muttered.

“Do you… Think he was…” Patton trailed off, gripping Virgil’s hand tighter. “Y’know…”

“Killed by Grimm?” Roman whispered.

Patton swallowed. “Yeah… That…”

Chao and Virgil looked at each other, and Virgil had to swallow bile back. Putting a hand on Virgil’s shoulder, his uncle let out a loud breath.

“Only one way to find out,” he announced.

Slowly, Chao headed forward into the darkness. PRVL cast a glance at each other before following.

A shiver ripped through Patton, nearly causing Virgil to jump out of his skin. Both of their grips tightened instantly. “Do you think there are Grimm in here…?” Patton whispered.

“It would make sense,” Logan spoke. “Where else would creatures of darkness prefer to spend their time?”

“Keep your voice down,” Roman hissed.

Chao sighed; Virgil could practically hear his eyeroll. “Guys, we’re looking for someone, not sneaking into our ex-girlfriend’s house,” he said. “If we run into any Grimm, we’ll fight them. It’s no big deal.”

There was a long pause.

“…What was that you said about your ex-girlfriend’s-”

“Nothing. I mean, what? I didn’t say that. Did _you_ say that? I wasn’t even thinking about Chioma… I mean-”

“Dad’s ex?!”

“No. I mean, yes- we both dated her, it was a huge thing, she and I had to sneak around- listen, forget I said anything.”

Virgil began giggling, and the tension in the air began to lift. Chao whipped around to jab a finger at him.

“Your dad never finds out,” he warned.

“Why did you break into her house?” Virgil laughed.

Roman groaned, placing a hand on his forehead. “Straight people…”

Covering his mouth, Virgil shook his head. “I can’t believe you helped one of Dad’s girlfriends cheat on him…”

“They’d already broken up by then,” Chao pointed out with a wave of the hand. “I helped one of your dad’s girlfriends cheat on someone _else_.”

“That’s even worse! I didn’t know you were even _capable_ of lying that much!”

Logan shook his head. “I don’t understand relationships…”

“Trust me, you never will,” Chao sighed.

Patton slowed to a stop, tugging at Virgil to keep him behind. “Do you hear that?”

Everyone froze and strained their ears; Roman’s head snapped to look deeper into the cave. “That sounds like…”

“Footsteps,” Patton finished. “People footsteps.”

Chao took a few steps forward. “Hello?”

Virgil could hear the footsteps now.

“Amnon?” Chao called. “Amnon Haber? My name’s Chao Vengier, I’m a Huntsman. I’m here to help. Where are you?”

There was a beat of silence. Whoever was there, they stopped walking.

“…Chao?” a voice called.

Relief coursed through the group in a collective released breath. Chao hurried forward, holding up a hand as Virgil grinned smugly at his teammates.

“Told you my uncle’s pretty awesome,” he said.

Roman rolled his eyes. “You never said any such thing.”

“Mission’s not over yet, guys,” Chao reminded. Turning back towards the voice, he added, “Yeah, I’m here! Got your mission from-”

“Is this the Chao from Team TTNC?” the voice asked.

The Vengiers froze.

Virgil could hear his uncle’s breathing, even from as far apart from each other as they were. A shudder ran up his spine; next to him, he felt Patton flinch.

“…That’s not important right now.”

“But are you?”

The owner of the voice was finally close enough for Virgil to be able to see, but only just; the man’s brown and gray color pallete caused him to blend into his surroundings quite well. Every alarm bell in Virgil’s body was screaming.

“Uncle Chao…?” he breathed.

Chao was silent. He tightened his grip on his hammer and lifted it to his chest.

“Who are you?” he growled.

The man- Amnon, Virgil assumed -chuckled and shrugged.

“You already know,” he drawled. “Amnon Haber, the Atlesian dropout who got lost on his way to visit a friend. You know the story.”

Roman gasped, whipping around and drawing his sword with wide eyes. Patton dropped Virgil’s hand.

“We’re not alone!”

“Too bad it’s just a story,” Amnon stated.

A battle cry echoed behind them, and a blur shot overhead.


	9. Panic Button

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil is convinced the world is spinning out of control.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/172241100953/prvl-v1c9-panic-button-behind-the-scenes
> 
> Chapter warnings: fighting, faunus discrimination, lying, mentions of the death of a sibling

Chao lifted his hammer just as the blur was about to make contact with his head, and for a split second, they could see a woman balance on the handle; her dark brown tail flicked as she jumped to the ground. A growl formed in her throat as she charged forward. Chao pulled his hammer away and kicked her in the stomach. Her heels kicked a cloud of dust into the air as she skidded to a stop.

“What in the name of Pumpkin Pete is going on here?!” Roman yelled.

Virgil gripped his pole, glowering as Chao and the woman charged at each other again. “Nere,” he growled.

“Whom?”

Nere leapt into the air as Chao swung his hammer and slammed her feet into his shoulder, using it as a spring board to jump back and touch the wall of the cave. Virgil ran forward.

“What are you doing?!” Patton yelped.

He skidded to a stop in front of his uncle with Sangria Salvia held in front of him just as she shot forwards; as she whipped out a pair of daggers out of her pockets, something collided with Virgil’s side, and he flew back towards his friends. He looked up to watch Chao dodge Nere’s attack and glare at him.

“Stay out of this!”

He scrambled to his feet. “No! Let me help!”

“This isn’t your fight!”

Nere stabbed at Chao, but he thrust the handle of his hammer against her arm and used the force of her attack to flip her over his head. She twisted and threw a few punches, each of which Chao dodged.

Virgil ran forward and jumped, lifting his pole to strike her, but a gust of wind blasted him away; his back slammed into the wall of the cave, and he collapsed into the dirt. He weakly started to push himself up, only to watch as Amnon charged at him. He snapped his pole in half and fired a few shots.

“Virgil,” Logan called, voice unusually calm for the fighting around them, “What’s going on?”

Amnon dove at Virgil, and he rolled to the side just in time. “Nere’s been after Chao for as long as I can remember,” he stated, using his pole to lift himself to his feet. “Don’t know why, don’t know how long before that.” He looked over his shoulder to make eye contact with Logan. “But she’s made it very clear that she’s got some serious beef with-”

A foot slammed into Virgil’s chest, and he fell to the ground; Amnon leapt on top of him, lifting a fist, but Virgil somersaulted backwards until he was on top of him. Amnon sucked in a deep breath and blew at Virgil, and he found himself flying into the air again. He squeezed his eyes shut and braced for impact just as he smashed into the floor.

“Be _careful!_ ” Chao hollered.

Groaning, Virgil pushed himself to his knees. “Yeah, thanks for the tip,” he coughed.

He heard footsteps rushing up behind him, and he snatched his pole off of the ground; just as he whipped around to fight, a pair of black wings appeared between him and Amnon, and gunshots echoed through the cave. Roman dashed forward before Virgil could fully process what was happening.

A few feet away, Patton held up his shield as he hesitantly looked to Logan. “Should we help?”

“No. Considering how little Chao wants us involved and how minuscule our area is, I believe we would only get in the way,” Logan stated.

Patton chewed on his lip as he turned back to the fights. Virgil was swinging his pole at Amnon while Roman shot through the air time after time, but Amnon was dodging their attacks and blowing them away without even breaking a sweat. Not far away from that, Nere and Chao were doing acrobatics around each other and delivering countless blows with each flip or duck. Neither one seemed to be affected by any of the attacks, no matter how many times they were hit.

A growl rumbled through the cave, and Logan and Patton nearly jumped out of their skin. Their wide eyes briefly met before they whipped around. Patton let out a yelp.

“Grimm!”

“Keep calm,” Logan instructed. “We can handle this.”

“But there’s so many!” Patton exclaimed.

“We can handle this,” he firmly repeated.

Patton shot his teammate a glance before turning back to meet the countless red eyes creeping into the cave. He felt his breathing pick up. Lifting his shield, he swallowed thickly. Logan laid a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t panic,” he said.

A Beowolf began to charge, and Logan threw his weapon into its pistol form, shooting it down before it could even get close. Patton blinked; Logan looked at his shield.

“All we have to do is make sure they don’t get close enough to interfere with the others, alright?”

Nodding, Patton lifted his weapon and fired a few bullets at the legs of an Ursa.

Virgil ducked under a punch and swung his pole at Amnon’s legs; as he jumped over it, Roman shot down and kicked him in the back, and he table-topped over top of Virgil. Roman leapt on top of him and pinned him with the blade of his sword pressed against his throat, but Amnon kicked him back into Virgil. He jumped to his feet, and Roman charged. Virgil gripped his pole and growled, looking over to where Chao was dodging Nere’s stabs.

“I thought you said your mission in Atlas was over!” he yelled.

Chao grunted. “I’m a little busy right now!”

“Uncle Chao!”

“Watch yourself-!”

Virgil saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and bent backwards just in time to miss Amnon’s kick. He stuck his pole in the dirt and flipped his feet above him, letting his weight tip it to finish the backflip for him. Amnon stepped back before it could hit his crotch; he whipped around to punch Roman before charging at Virgil.

“ _Ah_ , not the face!” Roman snapped.

“Are you serious?!” Virgil screamed.

“No, he’s Roman!”

“Patton, the Grimm.”

“Oh, right.”

Logan rolled his eyes and ran forward, pistol transforming back into a book just before he gripped the strap and threw it at a small Deathstalker. Its pincers snapped at it, but the strap wrapped around and bound them together. Logan yanked, and the appendages ripped off. The Grimm screeched before it began to evaporate.

There were gunshots behind him, and a Beowolf collapsed to the ground; Patton bolted over and jumped in front of Logan, holding up his shield just as Boarbatusk crashed into it. He shoved it away and looked at Logan.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’d be better if you would _kill_ the Grimm instead of just injuring them,” Logan huffed.

Logan ran around him and into the hoarde of the monsters. Biting his lip, Patton tucked his face behind his shield.

“…Right.”

Virgil whipped his pole in front of himself to block another attack; this time, Amnon didn’t jump away, but instead pushed against it and held his ground. He and Virgil held glares at each other.

“Virgil, be careful!” Roman yelled.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chao freeze for just a split second. “Don’t-!”

Nere landed a kick into his stomach, and he slid back a few feet. “ _You’re_ Virgil?” she laughed. “My, you’ve certainly grown since the last time I saw you!”

Virgil’s breath caught in his throat. “Uncle Chao…?”

“Nere, shut _up!_ ”

“Oh, what for?” she quipped.

Chao growled and sprinted forward, spinning to gain enough momentum to land a heavy blow on Nere, but she ducked just in time, swooping her foot to knock his legs out from underneath him. He hit the ground and somersaulted. By the time he got back to his feet, she was staring at Virgil with a raised eyebrow.

Roman swooped in and kicked Amnon away from Virgil, and he dove after him; Virgil, however, stayed rooted to the spot. He and Nere had made eye contact.

Her facial features relaxed, and she glanced between Chao and Virgil. “Oh. _I_ get it.”

“Get what?” Virgil asked. “Uncle Chao, what is she talking about?”

“Nere,” Chao growled.

She laughed. “You’re afraid he’s going to meet the same fate as little Crina, aren’t you?”

“ _What?!_ ”

Just as the scream had left his mouth, Virgil was blasted away by a gust of wind Roman had just barely dodged. He tumbled through the dirt, and the world fell quiet against his heart pounding in his ears. ****

Logan was out of ammo. He threw his weapon out of its pistol form and gripped the strap as tightly as he could, mind scrambling to calculate the most efficient way to kill as many Grimm as possible. The book whipped back and forth until a King Taijitu grabbed it in its mouth and bit down hard. Logan gasped as he was yanked forward.

“Do something!” he yelled.

Yelping, Patton waved his hands. “I- I don’t know! I don’t know!”

“I can’t do this alone, Patton! Help!”

As Logan regained his traction enough to fight back against the King Taijitu, Patton’s eyes darted around the Grimm closing in on him. He squeezed his eyes shut and lifted his shield, firing across the hoarde in hopes of hitting at least one. There was a screech. He opened his eyes in time to see a Boarbatusk stumble. Patton charged, but it turned to him, and his heart leapt into his throat.

His traction on the ground disappeared.

Arms pinwheeling, Patton tried to keep his balance on the sheet of ice he’d created; he tried to stop, but his boots kept sliding against his will. The Boarbatusk planted itself right at the edge and tucked its head back. He hissed when he realized there was no avoiding a collision.

His stomach hit bone. His shield and his breath were both knocked away. A tingling sensation ran over his skin. Patton hit the ground and tumbled through the dirt until he slammed into the wall.

“Patton!”

“Huh…?”

Patton cracked his eyes open in time to see the Boarbatusk heading his way; this time, however, no ice formed around him. He scrambled to his knees, ignoring how every muscle in his body screamed at him to stop.

A blue book wrapped around its tusks just as it drew near, and it reared back from the force. Behind it, Patton could hear grunts of strain. He would have sighed in relief if he wasn’t too terrified to move.

Virgil pushed himself to his knees, ears pounding with every gunshot and clash of metal that echoed through the cave. His chest squeezed, and his eyes darted around. There had to be _something_ he could do to help more.

Chao and Nere dashed in all sorts of directions, almost blurs in the darkness.

Roman caught blow after blow of Amnon’s attacks, and his attempts to fight back were becoming slower.

Patton’s eyes were wide as he trembled in the face of the Boarbatusk.

Logan kicked away a Beowolf, muscles straining to keep Patton safe.

Virgil was powerless.

Heart thundering in his chest, he whipped around and threw out his arms. “What are we supposed to _do?!_ ” he screamed.

Chao knocked Nere away and turned, scanning the cave just as Virgil had done seconds ago. There was a long pause while Nere regained her balance and charged again. She leapt at him. He swung his leg around and smashed his heel into her face. She fell to the ground and didn’t move.

Lifting his hammer above him, Chao ran to Roman and skidded to stand in front of him. Amnon sucked in a breath, but Chao slammed his weapon into his stomach, and a yelp wrenched out of him instead of a blast of air. Amnon smashed into the wall of the cave and crumpled while Chao grabbed Roman by the wrist and dragged him towards the Grimm. Virgil hurried to catch up.

Roman ripped himself away and lifted into the air, shooting forward and slicing the Boarbatusk in half. Logan stumbled from the sudden lack of resistance, but Virgil caught him by the shoulders before he could fall. Flying back to Patton, Roman scooped their leader into his arms before he made his way out of the cave and out of their sight.

Chao picked Patton’s shield off of the ground and used it to frisbee through a line of Grimm; as they began to dissolve, he frantically waved Logan and Virgil through the smoke and out of the cave. Logan grabbed the shield on the way out. The sunlight practically blinded them when they stepped onto grass.

They ran.

* * *

As soon as the three began to slow their paces, Roman eased himself and Patton towards the ground. Virgil desperately wanted to sprint over, to take Patton and hold him close to remember that he was okay, that he was _safe_ , but his blood was boiling and his muscles were aching and his chest was heaving… His mind was in a fog thick enough to sink ships.

He stopped, doubling over to gasp for air while the other two ran to them. His heart twisted.

“Is he alright?” he heard Chao ask. He hardly sounded winded. Virgil squeezed his eyes shut.

“I’m okay,” Patton replied. His voice was tight, and he paused to clear his throat. “I’m sorry.”

“No need for apologies. You took a tremendously heavy hit. It completely stripped you of your aura,” Logan said.

There was shuffling, and then the sound of feet gently hitting the ground. A hiss of pain followed soon after.

Roman sucked in a breath. “Ooh, easy, easy… Oh, Pat, you’re going to be feeling this for a while…”

“I-It’s alright,” Patton said, following it up with a quiet laugh.

Chao let out a sigh. Virgil heard his hammer fall against the ground. “I owe you all one hell of an apology,” he stated. “If I had known we were going to be ambushed, I never would have brought you along.”

“There was no way you could have predicted a change in plans like that,” Logan pointed out. “You have done nothing wrong.”

“…Yeah. Whatever. I’m just glad you’re all safe.”

Virgil felt something inside him snap.

“…Nere knew,” he growled.

There was a pause. He opened his eyes and stood up straight.

“Knew…?” Patton whispered.

“She _knew_.”

Virgil finally looked up and glared. When he saw Chao stiffening, a tremble began to shake his body. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Roman glance hesitantly between them.

“Um… What is happening?”

Silence fell. Virgil clenched his jaw, trying to keep his breathing steady. His blood was starting to boil, and it was beginning to feel impossible to stay calm.

“Why did Nere know about her?” he snapped.

“It’s not important.”

“Really, because I think it’s pretty damn significant that _your_ mortal enemy knows about what happened to Crina!”

Logan cleared his throat. “I believe it might be wise to take a deep-”

“Shut _up!_ ” Virgil yelled.

Patton gasped. “Virgil! He is your _teammate_ , don’t talk to him like that! Apologize!”

Virgil stayed silent, choosing instead to return his glare to Chao. It felt like his chest was being squeezed by a King Taijitu. He swallowed thickly.

“Does Dad know that she knows?” he asked.

Chao looked away.

“Does _Papi?_ ”

He shut his eyes, jaw setting. Virgil gripped his pole as tight as he could to distract himself from the tears forming behind his eyes. When it became clear that he wasn’t going to be getting any answers, he stormed past the group and towards where they’d been left off.

The fluttering of wings sounded behind him. It took all of his willpower to not whirl around and drive his fist into Roman’s face. He turned his face away as soon as he landed and began to walk next to him.

“What in the world was all that?” Roman asked.

Virgil huffed. “Nothing.”

“Really? Because it certainly seemed like something,” he pressed. “Who is this Crina you spoke of? Why is it so important that-”

“I’m not talking to a _faunus_ about this!” Virgil spat, finally turning to glare at Roman. His eyebrows raised and his lips parted, but Virgil ignored it. “Why don’t you just go back to the zoo and leave me alone, alright?!”

Roman said nothing. His lower lip twitched and his brow creased. Virgil only caught a glimpse before he stomped away.

* * *

“Virge? How ya feeling?”

The sincerity in Patton’s voice tempted Virgil to get up, but the lead in his limbs kept him pressed against his mattress. He shifted, pulling the blankets to cover his head even further than before.

“Fine,” he grumbled.

There was a pause. He heard a scoff, presumably from Roman, and then a sigh from whoever was closest to him.

“We’re going to go get dinner,” Patton informed. “Do you wanna come along?”

“No.”

“Virgil,” Logan said, “You need to eat. You haven’t eaten anything all day. It isn’t healthy.”

“Don’t care. Not hungry.”

“…Do you want us to bring you something back?”

Virgil shut his eyes, burying his face in the sheets. “I don’t care.”

Another pause, and then the door opened and three sets of footsteps walked into the hallway. Two of them continued until they were out of earshot; the third stayed behind. Virgil held his breath.

“If you wish to talk about anything,” Logan quietly stated, “Know that we are willing to lend a hand.”

Virgil stayed quiet. The door shut.

Slowly, after the silence of the room became a little too unbearable, he pulled the covers away and sat up. The light of the room pained his eyes after being in the dark for so long, but when he glanced out of the window and through the tree branches, he saw that the sun was below the scarlet horizon. He’d been here for hours, yet his chest was still aching as horribly as it had been in the Emerald Forest that morning.

His eyes sunk to the floor as he ran through the events for what felt like the millionth time. It was obvious now, why Chao hadn’t wanted to talk about his last mission. He just didn’t understand why that had to be a secret. It wasn’t like he was a little kid anymore! With the amount of times he’d gone on a bounty mission to find her and she’d gotten away, he was _used_ to hearing that his missions had failed. What was so different about this one? Did something happen to make it worse than usual, or had…

Had Virgil done something to make Chao lose his trust in him?

Virgil’s breath caught in his throat. No, that… that couldn’t be right. He and his uncle had always had such a close bond. Virgil told him everything, and Chao always looked out for him, and they used to talk on the phone almost every night unless Virgil had too much homework or Chao was on a mission. If Virgil had done something wrong, _surely_ Chao would have said something. He _always_ said something.

…Except. He didn’t say anything about his mission failing. And he was silent about Nere knowing about Crina.

Virgil looked at his desk, where a picture of him and Chao sat on one of the shelves. It had been taken on the day he graduated from Sanctum. Chao had said he was shaping up to be a good Huntsman that day.

How much had Chao lied to them?

A knock on the door jarred Virgil out of his head. He rolled his eyes and lay back down, shoving the covers back over his body.

“Which idiot forgot their scroll this time?” he called.

Silence.

There was another knock on the door.

Virgil frowned. “Did you leave it with your voice, or is it a nonverbal Logan? Knock twice if you’re Logan.”

One single knock sounded this time. Huffing, Virgil threw off the covers and headed to the door. He swung it open with a glare.

“Why the heck can’t you just-”

The words died on his lips. Chao hesitantly smiled.

“Hey,” he offered.

Oh no. Oh no. Oh no. “What do _you_ want?”

Chao shrugged and lifted the two pints of ice cream in his hands, careful not to drop the book that was tucked under his arm. “Peace offering?”

He wanted to be mad. He wanted to yell, to kick him out of the dorm, to call his dads and tell them what his uncle never had and get them on his side. He wanted to break down and hug him and apologize for being upset, or to just go back in time and say no when Chao offered to take them on the mission and avoid this whole problem in the first place.

Instead, Virgil simply stepped out of the doorway. As soon as Chao was inside, he shut the door and watched in silence as he sat himself on the bookshelf under the window. They made eye contact.

“I was… hoping we could talk?” Chao said.

Virgil stayed silent, but his mind began to scream. _What’s he going to say oh no why’s he bringing ice cream for this he only brings ice cream when things are really bad there’s a bad reason why Nere knows about Crina oh man what if Nere’s his ex what if Dad and Uncle Chao both dated Nere what if Nere’s our aunt what if Nere’s our mom and Dad and Papi lied to us for all of these years about Aunt Diana what if-_

Chao cleared his throat. “Look, I know you’re mad- I’d be pretty upset, too -but nothing’s gonna get better if we don’t communicate.”

Clenching his jaw, Virgil looked away. “You’re one to talk,” he huffed.

_Oh gosh oh gosh oh gosh Virgil why did you say that, why did you have to go and ruin-_

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Chao sighed, “And I want to fix it. I splurged to get you that black vanilla ice cream you used to rave about. Even remembered to get spoons this time!”

Memories of sticky, cold hands on a hot summer day at Sanctum set a soft smile on his mouth before he had the chance to hold it back; he rubbed a hand over his forehead and walked over to the bookshelf.

“Well, at least you got _one_ thing right…”

He hopped up next to Chao and took the pint and the spoon, pulling the plastic tab away while the frost melted against his palm. Chao did the same, and they clinked their spoons together before moving to open their containers. For a second, it seemed like everything was back to normal, like Virgil was going to go home and lie to Papi about eating ice cream before dinner and make fun of Dad for the new information Chao had given him about the dumb things they did as teenagers. It was like nothing could be bad again.

And then his scroll buzzed against his mattress, pulling Virgil back into reality. The lid was only halfway off of his ice cream when the rock dropped in his stomach. He stopped.

“Um… Uncle Chao?”

Chao took a bite of his Red Sap sherbet and turned to look at Virgil, who slowly dropped his hands to let the pint sit in his lap. Virgil let his eyes trace the black and white plaid of his pajama pants instead of looking back.

“I know I asked this a lot in the forest, and I’m sorry I got so mad, but…” He sighed, shutting his eyes before finally making eye contact. “Why did Nere know?”

Chao paused, and his mouth twisted as he bit the inside of his cheek. His spoon tapped the crevice in his ice cream as his eyes darted just to the side of Virgil. After a moment, his head turned to look at the floor.

“Uh… Virge, that’s…”

“A difficult question?” Virgil finished. “Yeah, I kind of figured.”

Rolling his eyes, Chao shot him a glare. “It’s more complicated than you think,” he stated.

Virgil huffed and finally pulled the lid off of his container. “Look, I know I’m still really touchy about it and all. But like… she’s my _sister_. You don’t exactly get over seeing your little sibling leave one day to go to the store and never come back. I doubt you’d get over it immediately if it had happened to Dad.”

“No. I wouldn’t,” Chao sighed. “And I’ve told you that. Didn’t we finish this conversation a couple of years ago?”

“Apparently not.” Virgil scraped his spoon against the black ice cream. “I _get_ that it’s been hard for me and you don’t want to make it worse, and I can respect that, but I’m not thirteen anymore! I know what the world is like now! There is _nothing_ you can say that’s too complicated for me.”

Chao leaned back and pointed his spoon at him. “ _You_ are still just a kid, and being in training to become a Huntsman doesn’t change that.” He took a bite of his sherbet and continued with his mouth full. “Seventeen, never left Mistral before you came here, haven’t even gone into the City of Vale yet… trust me, there’s a _lot_ I could say. You’re too young to understand the world, whether you like it or not.”

Virgil stared at Chao for a long moment, and then he set down his ice cream. “So was Crina,” he snapped, “But that didn’t stop her from being killed by it.”

Chao froze. He glanced at Virgil, then to the opposite wall, then to his sherbet, and back to Virgil. The spoon pushed the half-melted bits around in the container until he shut his eyes and let his head fall back against the window.

“She was there.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Who, Crina? I mean, yeah, that’s a little-”

“No. Nere. She was there when the Grimm attacked. That’s why I couldn’t save her.”

There was a long pause. Virgil tried to swallow and open his airway, but his mouth was too dry. He slowly looked away.

“…Oh.”

Opening his eyes, Chao raised his eyebrows and went back to his ice cream. “Yeah. ‘S why I didn’t want to tell you. It would have made a bad situation even worse.”

Virgil chewed on his lip. “I… thought you said you were fighting the Grimm when it happened,” he whispered.

“I said I was fighting. Never said it was Grimm.”

Slowly shutting his eyes, he tried to push away the sensation of the world spinning out of control. It was fine. It was fine! Chao had had a good reason to do it! With a village as small as theirs, the likelihood of Grimm attacking was already high, and everyone did what they could to avoid negativity spreading- that was why they’d kept Crina’s death a secret in the first place! Virgil knew this, he _knew_ he knew this, he knew he shouldn’t be upset… So why did it suddenly feel like he was so powerless against the world, like none of what he was doing was going to make a difference?

“I know I should have said something earlier,” Chao softly admitted. “You have a right to know about how your own little sister died. I’m sorry.”

Virgil gradually let out a breath. “It’s fine. You didn’t do it to upset us.”

“I’ll tell your dads tonight. Because, you know, I’m sure that they’ll want to start their day hearing that I lied to them about how their daughter died.” A dark chuckle escaped him, and then he hummed. “You know, on second thought, maybe I should wait until it’s nighttime there…”

Normally, Virgil would quip something back about giving them nightmares or only waiting because he’s procrastinating, but his wits had been thrown into a closet and jailed with a lock that had no key. He pulled his lower lip between his teeth and looked to the floor.

“I was so scared,” he whispered.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Chao turn his head towards him. “What do you mean?”

“When I yelled for you,” he said, wrapping his arms around himself, “I got knocked out of the battle, and I looked around and realized that there was _nothing_ I could do. Roman was fighting that guy who was way stronger than him, Logan was kicking away so many Grimm-” Virgil looked up at him, the King Taijitu in his chest returning. “There were so _many_ , Chao-”

Chao set his sherbet to the side and pushed Virgil’s ice cream out of the way as he scooted closer to him. “It’s alright, Virge. We made it out.”

“And- And Patton, he was terrified, but his semblance wasn’t working… He was completely out of aura…”

“Everyone’s safe, Virge. That’s all that matters.”

“But what if they _weren’t_?” Virgil asked, tears finally starting to prick at his eyes. “I just- I- I saw Patton, and I just- it was everything I’d imagined Crina was like when-”

Chao put an arm around him. “Relax. He’s not hurt.”

“But what if he was?!”

“There’s a million what-ifs under the sun.”

Swallowing thickly, Virgil let his mouth fall shut. He leaned into his uncle and let out a shuddering breath. “I always thought that if I had gone with you guys into town, I could have helped you save her,” he breathed. “But… I don’t know anymore. I completely froze up back there. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“There is _nothing_ wrong with you,” Chao firmly stated. “So you got a little scared your first time on a mission. Big deal! Fear is natural. Your dad pissed his pants after his first kiss ‘cause he was so scared, and that’s nothing compared to what you and your team just went through! Trust me, it’s gonna be way easier on your next mission after that.”

Virgil sighed. “That’s the problem, it _wasn’t_ just today. I’ve been completely freaked out this entire semester. Every little thing has been pissing me off, or making me terrified- I’ve even started being afraid of _homework_ , Chao!” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve never felt like this before in my entire life, even after Crina! It’s like… everything’s just… _scary_ , and I don’t know why.”

Chao began to rub circles on Virgil’s arm, letting out a breath as he shook his head at him. “I think I might have an idea.”

“What?”

“When was the last time you were away from your dads before coming here?” he asked.

Pausing, Virgil racked his brain. “Uh… Crina and I went away to that summer camp when I was like, ten.”

“And when was the last time you had to go to a new place, by yourself, with no friends or family to help you adjust?”

“…I don’t know if I’ve ever… oh.”

Chao raised his eyebrows and smiled. “Yeah. Big changes, kid. They’ll do weird things to you.”

A flush of embarrassment crept over Virgil’s face, and he looked away.

“…Did you feel weird when you started at Haven?” he softly asked.

“Oh, like you wouldn’t believe. Don’t let your dad know I told you, but I cried on the phone to him and your grandparents almost every night for almost three quarters of my first semester there.”

“Really?”

Scoffing, Chao pulled his arm away and grabbed his sherbet. “Yeah. My teammates hated me. And hey, yours don’t! You must not be doing too bad if you’ve got friends like them!”

Overreacting. Virgil was overreacting. Like always. Ignore the panicking you’ve been doing day after day, ignore the pit in your stomach screaming he’s wrong. You’re fine.

“Hey, that reminds me.”

Chao set his ice cream down and picked up the book laying next to him. Tilting back his head, he inspected the cover; Virgil forced out a laugh.

“Starting to go blind?” he asked.

He scowled. “Shut up, you’re not gonna have room to talk in a couple of years if you have the same eyes as Diana.”

Virgil went to glare back, but Chao shoved the book into his hands before he could say anything.

“Look, I found this at some book store in Vale this afternoon,” Chao explained. “I figured you could stand to read something that wasn’t a comic book for once. Plus I wasn’t really expecting you to forgive me that easily over this, so it was going to be a part two of the peace offering, but… Y’know. Gift.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow and looked at the cover, only to have his features drop in surprise a moment later.

“…No way,” he breathed.

“Yep.”

“I didn’t know this was a book!”

Chao frowned at him. “Are you serious? Virge, it’s _A Non-Descript Winter Holiday Carol._ It’s been around for like, a hundred years! Why did you think there were so many movies of it?!”

Laughing, Virgil held the book to his chest. “I don’t know, I just thought the first movie was popular!”

“Oh, my gosh, you really are an idiot.”

“Says the guy who thought Dust came from bookshelves!”

“What- I was eight! How did you know about that?!”

“You’re not the only Vengier who likes giving dirt on his brother,” Virgil admitted.

Chao growled and looked away. “Should’ve never trusted that little snot…”

Virgil giggled, dropping the book into his lap and reaching over to hug him. “Thanks, Uncle Chao,” he mumbled into his shoulder.

An arm wrapped back around him.

“Yeah, whatever. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

* * *

“I can’t _believe_ you!”

_Bang!_

Nere and Amnon flinched as the man slammed his fist into the wall, shoulders heaving as he huffed for air. Amnon grabbed the edges of his scarf and twiddled with them while the man let out a moan.

“I’ve been so _gracious_ to you, Nere,” he growled. “It’s been over a year since I spared your damn life. Over a year since I pushed aside _my_ agenda so you could finish _your_ revenge mission. I even gave you Amnon! And _this_ is how you return that? By letting him get away _again?!”_

He whirled around, jabbing a finger at Nere; Amnon shuddered at how she stayed perfectly still, how she was conditioned enough to show no fear. A pin of ice settled in his stomach at the thought of being the same as her someday.

“How many times have you failed this mission now?” he snapped.

“Four,” she stated.

“Right! Four times! That’s four times you’ve wasted _my_ time by chasing after some guy that apparently is way out of your league!” the man yelled. “So, tell me, Nere, why the _hell_ should I let you keep after him?!”

She paused. Amnon chewed on his lip.

“There is good news,” she said.

The man barked out a laugh, staring at her for a long moment. “Good news? What the _hell_ could have come out of a failed mission that could possibly be _good?!_ ”

Nere didn’t even blink at his shrieking, a smirk forming on her lips.

“We found her son.”

The man froze.

“…You mean…?”

“Yes,” Nere interrupted.

A smile formed on his lips. “Where?”

“He was with Chao, but it didn’t seem to be a normal occurrence,” she continued.

Amnon found his voice. “It looked like he was only being guarded by three other boys his age. Easy to defeat.”

Cackling filled the room. A chill ran up Amnon’s spine as the man raked a hand through his green fauxhawk. He rested his arm against his shoulder, the powder blue sleeve standing out against the dim lighting.

“Oh, that’s awesome,” the man sighed. “Looks like I don’t have to fire you two after all.”

Amnon stiffened, but the man turned around and began pacing before he could say anything.

“Now… I believe it’s time we start brainstorming.”


	10. Take Off The Muzzle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ever since Virgil learned about Nere’s significance in how his life turned out, he’s become more discriminatory than ever. Patton won’t let that stand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/172525969103/prvl-v1c10-take-off-the-muzzle-behind-the
> 
> Warnings: Lots of faunus discrimination, mentions of emotional abuse, mentions of the death of a sibling, fighting

The doors to the sparring gym opened with a bang, voices echoing into the silence.

“Patton, please, just one fight!” Roman begged. “You’re not going to get any better at controlling your semblance if you don’t practice!”

“But… what if I hurt you?” Patton replied.

“That’s unrealistic, considering both of the facts that Roman has plenty of aura and is much more experienced than you are,” Logan pointed out. “The chances of you actually injuring him are pretty small.”

Virgil scoffed. “Not that it’d be a bad thing if you did…”

“I’m ignoring you,” Roman growled. He then turned to Patton, stopping them all before they stepped onto the field and clasping his hands together. “Please, Patton. We don’t even have to use weapons! Just a little hand to hand combat?”

Chewing on his lip, Patton grasped the edge of his cloak and looked away. “I… I don’t know…”

“Come on, you’ve been getting so much better at keeping it under control outside of battle! Don’t you want to see how much you’ve improved in fighting with it?”

“I must admit, I have to agree with Roman. I am very intrigued to see how much progress you’ve made since we arrived at the beginning of the semester,” Logan added.

Patton let out a low whine, looking between his three teammates; Roman was giving him the best puppy dog eyes he could muster, Logan was staring at him quietly as he awaited an answer, and Virgil was glaring at the floor with his mind elsewhere. Patton frowned and let his shoulders drop.

“Oh… okay.”

Roman squealed and punched the air before flying onto the field, yelling, “Come on, Pat! Let’s fight!”

“Can’t wait to watch him kick your butt,” Virgil called as he headed for the bleachers.

Adjusting his glasses, Logan cleared his throat. “I believe it would be wise for me to stay down here and give suggestions on how to better use your tactics. Do I have consent to do so?”

“You certainly have mine, Doctor Smarts!”

“Sure, Lo.”

Roman looked to Virgil. “Hey, since you’re gonna be on your scroll anyway, watch our auras, will you?”

“I’m not taking orders from a faunus,” he snapped.

Patton pouted and turned to him. “Please, kiddo?” he asked.

Blinking, Virgil nodded. “Yeah, of course.”

“What- why did you take his order and not mine?!”

“Gee, maybe it’s ‘cause Patton’s not an animal!”

The other three glanced at each other with furrowed brows; Logan raised an eyebrow at Virgil and crossed his arms.

“Virgil, what are you-?”

“Let’s just start the fight,” Roman interrupted. “I don’t need to hear anything else from… From Jerky McJerk Face over there.”

“Wow, that was a good one,” Virgil called.

Patton put his hands on his hips. “Now, Virgil, you’re being necessarily mean to-”

“Drop it, Patton. Let’s just fight,” Roman huffed.

“Aw, but kiddo-”

“Patton, please.”

Patton watched Roman for a long moment, the usual twist of fear in his chest being replaced by a slight nausea in his gut. Roman’s brow was creased and his jaw was set as he stared back. Chewing on his lip, Patton sighed and climbed onto the field.

“Alright. On the count of three?” Roman said.

Nodding, Patton placed his feet shoulder length apart and let his hands hover at his sides. “Ready!”

“One…”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Two…”

Logan pulled out his scroll.

“Three!”

Roman shot into the air as Patton dashed forward, leaving their leader to turn and look up as he hovered above. Light began to glow around Roman, and a moment later, four knives had formed in the air.

Thrusting his hands down, the knives shot towards Patton, who yelped and threw his hands in the air; ice encased his arms just as the knives stabbed into them. He looked at them with wide eyes before Roman shot down and kicked Patton in the chest, knocking him back a few feet and towards the edge of the boundaries.

“That isn’t fair, you can’t just go all out on him!” Virgil yelled.

Roman laughed, shutting his eyes and shrugging. “You can’t let your opponent get the first move, Patton! It gives them the advantage to-”

Yelling interrupted him, and the next thing he knew, he and Patton were rolling across the floor; Roman hooked Patton under the arms, and when he was on top, he shot them into the air. A blast of wind shoved him in a different direction than he’d planned, and in his surprise, his grip on Patton loosened. Patton used this to his advantage and squirmed until he was falling.

“Patton, that’s not a very wise tactic-!”

Logan winced as he smashed into the ground; he glanced at his scroll to watch Patton’s aura drop about a quarter of the way down the bar. He hissed a breath between his teeth and cringed.

“Are you alright?” he called.

Patton didn’t move. Roman landed and ran over, hands extended.

“Oh, my gods, I’m sorry! Are you hurt?”

With a cry, Patton whipped around and slammed his foot into Roman’s chest, knocking him back a few feet and causing his wings to flutter furiously. Patton charged and leapt at him, but Roman stepped to the side and grabbed him, whipping him around and throwing him across the field. Patton rolled, but managed to get to his feet before his momentum came to an end.

“Excellent coordination, Patton!” Logan yelled.

Roman charged at Patton, and Patton moved to do the same, but his foot landed on the edge of his cloak and caused him to tumble to the floor. Roman skidded to a stop just as he was over top of Patton, and Patton rolled onto his back, placing his hands on Roman’s calves to launch himself across the floor and knock Roman over. Finishing the move with a backwards somersault, Patton stumbled for just a moment as soon as he was back on his feet.

In the bleachers, Virgil laughed. “Nice, Pat!”

Pushing himself halfway up, Roman raised an eyebrow and smiled. “You have definitely made some progress this semester.”

Patton smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. “Does this mean the fight’s over?”

“Not a chance!”

With a flick of his wrist, a sword formed in Roman’s hands, and he flew towards Patton and swung; Patton ducked backwards and grabbed Roman’s wrist. He tugged at it to pull him to the ground, but Roman flew back and ended up dragging Patton halfway across the field instead. He slashed down towards Patton’s head, and he threw his frozen arm up to block the hit. Once Roman pulled back, Patton drew back his fist and swung.

Behind him, Virgil scoffed.

“Typical for a faunus to cheat.”

Flames engulfed Patton’s hand just as it made contact with Roman’s chest, sending the dragon faunus flying out of the ring. He smashed into the wall and crumpled to the ground, sword dissolving in seconds. Patton gasped.

“Oh, my goodness!”

He and Logan sprinted over to Roman as he pushed himself to his knees, gingerly rubbing the back of his head; Patton dropped down and grabbed his hand.

“I- I’m so sorry,” he whimpered. “I didn’t mean to—!”

Laughter shoved the rest of the sentence back down Patton’s throat as Roman shook his head. “Are you kidding? Patton, that was- that was epic! Don’t apologize for that!”

Patton frowned and cocked his head to the side. “Huh?”

“Roman’s right, that was astute,” Logan said. “It seems you’re starting to get a hold on controlling your semblance, as well. This was definitely a show that you’re headed in the right direction.”

“Um…” Patton leaned back, pulling his hand away to wrap his arms around himself. “Not really… I didn’t mean for it to kick in for that last punch…”

Slouching against the wall, Roman smiled tiredly at him. “Then it’s a good thing it kicked in when it did. I probably would have defeated you if it hadn’t.”

Patton blinked. “What do you mean?” he asked. “Aren’t we still- the fight isn’t over, is it? I didn’t completely deplete your aura?”

“Well, no,” Logan replied, looking back at his scroll. “You definitely did a substantial amount of damage, but Roman could have continued to fight for a long time if you hadn’t have knocked him out of the ring.”

Patton stared at him; Logan sighed.

“Knocking someone out of the ring is an automatic win, no matter how much aura they have left,” he explained.

Perking up, Patton looked between Roman and Logan. “Wait, so… I won?”

Roman smiled and nodded; Patton started to flap his hands, but a laugh behind them cut him off.

“Of course you won, Patton,” Virgil said. “You didn’t have any animal instincts to get in the way of your focus.”

A gasp caught in Patton’s throat while Roman glowered and Logan frowned.

“Surely, that’s not true,” he pointed out. “Faunus instincts would most likely be an advantage, not the other way around.”

“What is your _issue?_ ” Roman snapped. “You’ve been at this for nearly half the semester now! I thought you were done being discriminatory!”

Virgil glared. “Just because I wasn’t saying anything doesn’t mean I forgot the truth.”

Climbing to his feet, Roman put his hands on his hips. “And what truth would that be?”

“That humans are better than faunus.”

Patton scrambled to stand between the two and held his hands up. “H-Hey, now, let’s not go saying anything we might not mean-”

“Patton, don’t lie to him,” Virgil drawled. “You just saw it yourself. You kicked Roman’s butt, I’ve kicked Roman’s butt in class, and I have absolutely no doubt that Logan could kick his butt, too! We have all the evidence we need!”

Logan hummed. “No, I don’t think that’s nearly enough data. I would say we’d need at least five instances of humans defeating faunus for a very, very small sample, meaning Roman would need to lose about-”

Roman shoved past him and stormed towards the exit.

“Wait, Roman!” Patton called.

The door slammed open and shut, leaving the other three in silence; Virgil rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“So dramatic,” he groaned.

Patton growled and glared at Virgil. “Go apologize.”

“What? Why?!”

“What do you mean, ‘why’?! You’re being really rude and hurting his feelings!”

Virgil raised an eyebrow. “Patton, please. He doesn’t have feelings.”

Patton’s fists combusted as he spluttered to find words, frustrated tears forming in his eyes; after a moment of gibberish, he let out an angry groan and turned to head to the exit.

“Roman, wait!”

As soon as the door shut behind him, Logan adjusted his glasses and looked to Virgil. “They’re right, you know,” he stated. “There’s no evidence that any difference lies between humans and faunus. Just because they have traits of certain animals doesn’t mean they deserve any less respect than you and I. They aren’t evil.”

Virgil let out a bitter laugh and crossed his arms. “Yeah, right! I have yet to meet a faunus that _doesn’t_ completely ruin my life!”

“I don’t see how Roman has ruined your life,” Logan sighed. “If anything, you’re causing harm to his.”

“I’m only protecting myself,” Virgil snapped.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “From what, might I ask? I’ve yet to see any reason to be afraid of him.”

“He’s a _faunus_. Sooner or later, you’ll see why.”

“Then why aren’t you afraid of Patton?” Logan asked, crossing his arms. “Or me, for that matter? How do you know humans won’t provide the necessary reasoning for you to fear us?”

Virgil glared at Logan for a long moment as his arms fell to his sides. Slowly, he stepped towards him.

“Listen to me,” he huffed. “A faunus has made my uncle’s life hell for as long as I’ve been alive. It was faunus at Sanctum who tormented me about having the semblance of a villain until I was too afraid to use it at all.”

“Okay, that one sounds like it is a matter of self-esteem, not due to-”

“It’s because of a faunus that my little sister is _dead,_ Logan!”

The words echoed through the empty gym; Logan stared at him with raised eyebrows while Virgil clenched his jaw, attempting to keep his breathing steady.

“I… was unaware,” Logan finally muttered.

“Yeah. You think I’m gonna believe Roman’s gonna be any different than them?” he asked.

Letting out a breath and looking away, Logan reached up and adjusted his glasses. “Virgil… I offer you my sympathy that these things have happened to you.”

Virgil huffed out a laugh. “Thanks.”

“But that doesn’t make it okay to be discriminatory.”

There was a pause.

“…Excuse me?”

“It isn’t Roman’s fault that those things happened. Not every faunus is going to harm you, or possess the desire to harm others,” Logan firmly pointed out.

“I’m sorry, have you _heard_ all of the attacks from the White Fang in the news lately?” Virgil snapped.

Logan rolled his eyes. “Yes, and if you were paying attention to Roman, you would have heard his extreme distaste in the organization. Besides, there are plenty of faunus who are just as against the White Fang as he is. You’ve met a multitude since coming to Beacon. How many of them have been anything less than kind to you?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you really going to ask that?”

“Yes. Have you considered that perhaps Roman has only been returning the attitude you have been offering him? The majority of faunus- especially here at Beacon, where we’re learning how to _protect_ people -would never dream of harming you. What do we have to do to convince you of this?”

Virgil stared at Logan for a long moment; his eyes flicked up and down, inspecting his face, body language, and tone of voice. Logan prayed he wasn’t offering any miscommunications.

The door opened, followed by the abrupt end of a conversation.

“Whoa… Uh…”

Finally, Virgil scoffed and stepped back, glaring at Logan.

“Nothing,” he stated. “No one, not even _Patton_ could convince me the faunus are good people. Because they aren’t. I’m only stating the truth.”

Logan sighed as he watched him turn and storm towards the exit; his heart leapt a little seeing Thamir at the door, scroll pressed hastily against his ear. Part of him wanted to run over and pull him out of the way before Virgil could cause any harm, but Virgil shoved past him before he could even begin to move.

The door slammed shut behind him. Thamir looked to Logan with wide eyes as he pulled the scroll away.

“Is he alright?” he asked.

Sighing, Logan pinched the bridge of his nose and looked to the floor. “I don’t know.”

He heard Thamir quickly finish his phone call, and then he was hurrying over to stand next to Logan. A hand landed on his back and rubbed little circles.

_Should be hurting, should be hurting, why isn’t it-?!_

“Come on,” Thamir softly said. “We can either talk about it or fight it out. Your choice.”

Though he knew it was inappropriate after such a tense conversation, Logan had to force a smile away from his lips.

* * *

The dorm was eerily quiet that night, and Patton was feeling less than cheerful about it.

All he had wanted to do now that his homework was done was do a little bit of reading on his scroll, but with all of the tension in the air, he realized he was putting way more energy into staying in control of himself than he was into focusing on the words. With a sigh, he pulled his attention out of his Achieve Men fanfiction and stretched, taking the opportunity to look around the room.

Next to him on the bed, Virgil concentrated heavily on his own scroll. Some sort of news article appeared to be on the screen. His free arm wrapped loosely around his torso, and his hand rested on Patton’s detached cloak, where it was draped over both of their legs. For a moment, he dropped the back of his head against the wall, eyes narrowed in deep thought, but he turned back to his scroll before he could notice Patton’s gaze.

A huff from Roman on the other side of the room drew his attention. The faunus leaned back at his desk, scrubbing at his eyes before he reluctantly turned back to the textbook laying in front of him. His fingers weaved through his hair as he attempted to focus. Patton knew that Roman’s exhaustion was keeping him from finishing the assignment, but his pride would keep him from taking a break.

Logan reached into the box of stim toys sitting at his desk and pulled out his fidget cube, glancing up to eye at the weighted blanket on the top shelf before turning back to his work. The sound of the switch flicking back and forth broke the silence a moment later, but no one in the room minded. He started to scribble something in his notebook. For a brief second, he let out a sigh and turned to look at the poster of Team BYRD; Patton noticed a look in his eye that seemed quite out of character for him, but he couldn’t decipher what it meant. Logan turned back to his work before he could study it any longer.

A gust of wind rattled the shut window. Patton shifted under the cloak and tucked his legs underneath him. It was quiet, but at least they weren’t fighting.

“Oh, look, another Dust shop was robbed,” Virgil said. “How much do you want to bet it was the White Fang?”

_I spoke too soon,_ Patton thought.

Shutting his eyes, Roman let out a long sigh. “Honestly, those scoundrels are probably just doing it for fun at this point,” he grumbled.

“Is there a reason you would assume the White Fang over any other run-of-the-mill thieves?” Logan asked, keeping his eyes on his work.

“They’ve been behind the majority of the other Dust shop robberies lately, haven’t they?” Roman responded. “Besides, they’re the lowest of the low. Can’t be bothered to spend a single Lien when they could just steal it.”

Virgil huffed out a laugh. “Plus, they’re faunus. What more would you expect?”

“Virgil…,” Patton sighed.

“Not every faunus is as low as they are,” Roman snapped.

Rolling his eyes, he looked back to his scroll. “You certainly seem to be.”

A loud _bang_ echoed through the room as Roman slammed his hands on his desk and stomped to his feet. He whirled around and sent a glare that pierced Patton into coating his scroll with ice. Virgil simply raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you ever,” Roman growled, “ _ever_ compare me to those- those- those vile _creatures_ ever again.”

“Oh, gee, looks like I hit a nerve. Should I grab the muzzle?” Virgil sneered.

Patton bit his lip. “Wh… What makes the White Fang so bad?” he softly asked. “I’ve never heard about what they do before I came here…”

“ _How?!_ ”

“Patton, they’ve literally been attacking… Well, _every_ kingdom for years,” Logan pointed out.

He held up his hands. “I don’t know! My parents didn’t tell me _anything_ about the world; I wasn’t even allowed to watch the news by myself! Sure, I’ve heard of them, but I don’t know what they’ve done to be… well, scoundrels.”

“They’re terrorists,” Roman growled, fists balling as he glared at the floor. “What started as a faunus civil rights group peacefully protesting turned into awful people using hate and fear to get what they wanted. They claim to be doing it so people like us will be treated like people like them, but they do nothing but ruin the name of faunus.”

Virgil scoffed. “You didn’t need their help.”

Roman shut his eyes and lifted his fists a bit before shooting daggers into him. “What the hell is your problem?!” he yelled. “We were getting along fine until your uncle showed up a few weeks ago! Is he as discriminatory as you are?!”

Virgil glared and threw the cloak aside, accidentally covering Patton’s head with it. “Don’t you talk about Chao like that.”

“Oh, not so great when I’m throwing the attack back at you, now, is it?!”

Patton yanked the fabric off of his face to see Virgil and Roman practically nose to nose in the middle of the room; he glanced to Logan, who had turned in his chair to watch, and they made slightly frightened eye contact. Chewing on his lip, Patton began to reattach his cloak.

“There is just no winning with you, is there?” Roman huffed. “If I’m kind to you, you’re waiting for an attack. If I’m rude, I’m proving you right. What is there for me to do to prove to you that I’m not evil?!”

Virgil barked out a laugh. “You think you can? I know how you faunus are. You can’t delude me into thinking you’re kind at heart.”

“I’m not trying to delude you, I’m trying to show you you’re wrong!”

“Oh, right, because calling me awful nicknames like Sunshine and Emo Nightmare are doing wonders at making me think you’re a great person. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I’ve never met a kind faunus, and that doesn’t exclude my time at Beacon,” Virgil shot back.

“Why, then, am I the only faunus you openly discriminate against?!” Roman yelled.

“Because you’re the only scaley freak on this team!”

Roman pulled back his arm and slammed his fist into Virgil’s nose; he let out a yelp and stumbled back a few steps. Patton and Logan jumped to their feet, but neither of them moved any closer. Fist shaking, Roman took a few heavy breaths. Virgil glared and raised his own trembling hand towards him.

Silence fell.

After a moment, Virgil curled his fingers back and squeezed his eyes shut, letting out what sounded like a strangled sob and storming out of the room. As soon as the door slammed behind him, Roman dropped to his knees and wrapped his arms around himself.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” he whispered.

Logan moved to his side, hovering next to him as he chewed on his lip. Emotions were far out of his strong suit, and he knew that. He turned to look at Patton, but their leader’s spot was empty. The door to the hall opened and shut.

A smoldering hand print remained on the door frame.

* * *

As soon as the evening chill hit his skin, Virgil scrubbed furiously at his face. His heart was thundering and his hands were trembling; the King Taijitu in his chest squeezed as hard as it had back in the Emerald Forest. He strode down the sidewalk as quickly and unsuspiciously as he could muster. He’d almost used his semblance, he’d almost proved himself the villain, he needed to get out, find a place to hide, go, go, gogogo-

“Virgil!”

He walked faster.

Behind him, he heard someone running. He didn’t dare look back.

“Virgil, we need to talk about that-”

“No.”

“None of that was okay-”

“I said, _no._ ”

“Virgil Millard Vengier, you go back and apologize right now!”

Virgil whirled around and jabbed a trembling finger at him. “Patton, shut _up_. I am _not_ going back in there.”

Illuminated by the glow of his hands, Patton glared; Virgil’s chest squeezed just a bit more. “I’m not _asking_ you to do this,” he stated. “All of what you said was inappropriate and rude and just… just awful!” He threw his hands into the air. “Family doesn’t treat each other like that, Virgil! Whether you like him or not, that doesn’t mean you can say such awful, discriminatory stuff! What in the world makes you think that’s okay?!”

“You don’t understand,” Virgil growled. “You don’t understand anything!”

“Try me,” he snapped.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Virgil shook his head and turned to walk off. “No… No! I’m not- I- You don’t _get_ it, Patton! You don’t know the faunus like I do!”

Letting out a groan, Patton hurried over to walk next to him. “Virgil, one faunus being the reason for an accident doesn’t make the whole species evil! You can’t judge an entire group of people based on one person!”

“Nere isn’t the only faunus I’ve met,” Virgil retorted. “The faunus I knew at Sanctum-”

“Bullied you? Yeah, I know, and I’m sorry that happened, but you know what? My parents treated me just as terribly, and they’re humans! You don’t see me treating you or Logan like you’ve been treating Roman!”

Virgil slowed to a stop, glaring at Patton as best as he could through the wind of the loading docks whipping his bangs in front of his eyes. His jaw clenched so tight he was worried his teeth were going to break; he could feel his fingernails digging into his palms.

“What do you care?!” he yelled. “Why is it that you only ever stand up for Roman when it comes to these kind of things?! You didn’t even say anything about the fact that he freaking punched me! I thought all those years with your parents made you hate confrontation like this! Why is this such a big freaking deal?!”

“Because _I’m_ a faunus!”

Virgil’s breath caught in his throat.

Patton’s shoulders shook with every breath he took. There was panic in his eyes, but the flames showed no sign of stopping. Slowly, he gulped down a deep breath and put his hands over his eyes.

“I’m a faunus,” he softly repeated. “That’s why my parents treat me like they do. They are the most discriminatory, awful people you could ever meet… and… And you’re acting just like them!”

He threw his hands down, tears dripping down his cheeks.

“You think I’m not going to care when someone’s talking to a faunus like my parents talk to me?! You think I’m not going to care when someone’s talking to _anyone_ like that for something they can’t control?!” he screamed. “Roman and I didn’t choose to be faunus, Virgil! Heck, I _wish_ I had gotten that choice! But I _didn’t!_ And neither did Roman, whether he would’ve wanted it or not! We can’t change who we are! Why do you insist on hating people like us for it?!”

A teardrop fell towards the other wet spots on the sidewalk, but it began to hover before it could join them; as Patton caught his breath, the fire began to die down. His face screwed as he tipped it towards the ground.

“I don’t want to be afraid of you,” he hiccuped.

Patton wrapped his arms around himself, the movement causing Virgil to finally snap out of his trance. His eyes darted up and down, scanning his sobbing teammate’s entire body.

“…Where?”

He sniffled. “Huh?”

“Where’s your… trait thing?” Virgil asked. “Why haven’t I ever seen it?”

Shuddering, Patton straightened himself and pulled off his glasses to wipe at his eyes. “It’s hidden,” he choked out. “My parents don’t want anyone to know I’m not human. I- I shouldn’t even be telling you this, they’d be furious if they ever found out—”

“Wait, your— your parents,” Virgil interrupted, waving his hands in front of himself. “They’re human. Are— were you adopted, too?”

“No. They would never have chosen a faunus,” Patton bitterly replied. He put his glasses back on. “I don’t know how they had me. Everyone in my family is human, and just as discriminatory as my parents. There’s gotta be a gene or something— I don’t really know, maybe we can ask Logan. Honestly, my parents won’t even tell me how babies are _made_ because of this. I don’t know how I happened.”

Slowly, Virgil nodded. He reached behind his head and rubbed at his neck, tucking his fingers under his collar. The shock of the new information was starting to wear off, and Virgil found himself back in the awful feeling of the world spinning out of control. This was wrong, this was wrong, wrong, wrong— faunus were bad, but Patton’s too pure, too trustworthy to be one, but he _is_ one, and if there’s one exception, who’s to say there can’t be more? Who’s to say _anything_ he’s ever thought is true? How does he know the world he knows isn’t just one, big, blundering lie?

If Chao could lie to him, how many other people had, too?

He swallowed thickly, shaking his head to stop the train of thought before it got too out of control. “What… What kind of a faunus _are_ you?”

Patton bit down on his lip, eyes darting away as his swaying came to a stop. He was silent for a long moment.

“I… Uh…”

A familiar scream cut him off.

The two flinched and snapped their heads towards the dorm buildings; Virgil furrowed his brow.

“That sounded like…”

The scream rang out again, and Virgil’s eyes darted to their own window. When he saw the curtains flapping outside, he gasped. Two figures struggled against each other on top of their bookshelf, one of which was attempting and failing to unfurl his scaley, black wings.

Patton and Virgil turned to each other with wide eyes.

“Roman!”


	11. Creating A Ruckus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Reptilia siblings have gotten wrapped up in some trouble. Their teams will have to get them out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Scenes: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/172727928668/prvl-v1c11-creating-a-ruckus-behind-the-scenes
> 
> Warnings: mild swearing, kidnapping, fighting

If Virgil thought it was hard to breathe before, it was nothing compared to now.

His legs burned and his lungs ached as he sprinted as fast as he was physically able to down the sidewalk; judging by the sound of Patton gasping for air next to him, he assumed their leader wasn’t in much better shape. A trail of icy footsteps followed after Patton on bits of the ground that had risen up. Concern. Virgil couldn’t say he felt much different.

Something shot out of the window and wrapped around one of the branches on the tree that sat between their room and the next one over, and the two figures dropped towards the ground. They were just getting close enough now that Virgil could make out their faces: the struggling one, Roman, and a girl in a white mask—

Patton screamed.

The temperature at Virgil’s feet dropped, and the next thing he knew, he was on his hands and knees, ankles bent at a weird angle due to his feet being stuck to the ground. He let out a groan before pushing himself backwards as carefully and quickly as possible. Looking up, he saw that Roman and the girl were in a similar position a few yards away. A sheet of ice covered the area around them.

Virgil shot a glare. “Patton, what the fu-?!”

“ _Spider!_ ” he shrieked.

Out of the corner of his eye, Virgil saw Logan appear in the window and sprint out of sight just as quickly. He heard the door open and shut.

“Get _off_ of me, you scoundrel!”

Virgil snapped his attention to where the girl tugged at her leg with one hand and kept a grip on the web holding Roman with the other; he pushed himself to stand and mustered up as much courage as he could find.

“Hey!”

The girl stopped and turned, shooting him a glare. “What do _you_ want, human?”

“Virgil!” Roman cried, “Virgil, I- I’m sorry I hit you, I’m sorry I yelled at you, please, _please_ do something!”

“What do you want with him?” Virgil growled.

She turned back to her legs. “That’s none of your business.”

Roman huffed out a breath and tugged at the spiderwebs wrapped around his wings and torso. Frightened whimpers made their way back to where his teammates stood. Virgil looked to Patton, cursing under his breath when he realized he was still metaphorically frozen in fear.

Just as Virgil turned to start pulling at his own legs, Roman let out a roar.

“Get me out of here!” he screamed. “You can’t let them get Torius!”

“What’s happening?!”

The girl grunted. “It’s none of your concern!”

“My older brother got mixed up in the White Fang years ago!” Roman yelled. “When he left, they made it their mission to hunt him down! If they have me, he’s going to try to save me and get himself killed! Please, _please-_ ”

“Roman, breathe!” Virgil snapped. He jerked his leg at just the right angle, and the ice around his left foot shattered. As he got to work on the other, he looked at Patton and huffed. “And you breathe, too,” he grumbled.

A war cry sounded behind them; Virgil whipped around to see a familiar shock of red hair punching at another winged man in a white mask. The man swung a kick at her, but Trix ducked and landed a fist on his stomach. He grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her back, earning a cry from her.

“Trix, no!” Roman screamed.

Virgil growled and yanked at his leg. _Of all the times for Patton’s semblance to…_

_Semblance._

_Oh, no. No, no, no, brain, don’t suggest that…_

A tremble settled in Virgil’s hands as he turned to look at the spider faunus; her feet were still frozen solid, the ice surrounding her seemingly thicker than that around Patton and Virgil.

He turned back to the winged faunus, movements almost a blur as Trix broke free of his grasp and began the struggle once more.

His stomach rolled.

Virgil took a deep breath and turned to the spider faunus, swallowing thickly and lifting a hand.

A dark purple glow formed.

Just as the same was starting to form around the spider faunus, she surged towards him with such force that both her and Roman’s feet smashed free; as they slid across the ice, Logan skidded in close behind, arms pinwheeling as he hurdled towards his teammates. Virgil shot out an arm and grabbed his collar just before he slid past.

“Nice shot,” he said.

Logan let out a breath and adjusted his glasses. “Thanks.”

The spider faunus scrambled to her feet as best as she could, yanking Roman behind her as she skated between them. Roman’s shoulder bumped into Patton’s leg, and he slipped, hitting the ground and snapping out of his frightened trance.

“Oh, no,” he whimpered.

“Patton!” Roman yelped.

Virgil cursed under his breath and let go of Logan to yank at his leg. “Help me out of here!”

Logan’s hands gripped his calf and pulled, and while the ice began to crack, his foot stayed stuck in place. Out of the corner of his eye, Virgil saw Patton go sprinting towards the other faunus.

“Let him go!”

Virgil growled, glaring down at the ice. “Come on, come on, come on…!”

He glanced back in time to see the winged faunus kick Trix and knock her into Patton, sending them both to the ground; as she scrambled to get up, he grabbed Roman and the spider faunus.

The ice broke.

Virgil toppled to the ground as the sound of flapping wings echoed through the courtyard.

Trix swore loudly. “No, no, no!”

Scrambling to his feet, Virgil sprinted towards them and lifted his hand; it began to glow purple, but they were already out of its range. He cursed, jaw clenching as he watched Roman struggle to break free.

“Get Amber and Aster!” he screamed. “Don’t let Torius know this is happening!”

Letting out a yell, Trix started to run. “We’ll get you back, Little Drake! Just don’t panic, and don’t talk! We’ll be there as soon as we can! Hang tight!”

Roman called something back, but they were too far away to hear. Slowing to a stop, Trix stared for a long moment, shoulders heaving as she gasped for air.

Hesitantly, Virgil looked at his remaining teammates; Logan shot a glance back before turning to Patton, who had sunk to the ground in tremors.

A screamed curse snapped his attention back to Trix as she turned and started to run towards him. “Okay, you three- you three, go get Amber, and then go back to your dorm,” she commanded. “This is far too dangerous a mission for first years, and we don’t need to lose any more of you. Tell them to meet us at the CCT as soon as they can. I’m going to get Aster and our weapons, and then we-”

“Stop, stop, stop,” Virgil interrupted, blood draining from his face. “First off, who the hell are you to say this is too dangerous a mission for us? He’s our freaking teammate; we _have_ to help him! Second, who the freaking heck are Amber and Aster? Where are we supposed to find them?”

Trix opened her mouth and lifted her hand, but no noise came out. Instead, she shut her eyes and formed a fist. Her head dropped. “Fine. Fine! But don’t expect me to babysit you three when my baby brother’s in trouble!” She snapped her gaze up and pointed to one of the dorm buildings. “Amber is Anole’s team. They’re on the third floor, second door on the right. Patton should know where they are. Tell them what’s happening, grab your weapons, and meet us at the CCT asap. Got it?”

It clicked in Virgil’s mind. Not Amber and Aster, but AMBR and STER. He nodded.

“We won’t be late.”

Whipping out her scroll, Trix started to sprint towards another dorm building without another word. Virgil turned and ran towards Logan and Patton.

* * *

_Knock, knock, kno-knock, knock._

“…What the hell?”

_Knock, knock, kno-knock, knock!_

“Is that Patton?”

“Why is he here so late?”

“Whuzzhapenin’…”

_Bang, bang, ba-bang-_

The door swung open, and the boy with green hair had to duck back to avoid Patton’s fist as it tried to pound on the door that was no longer there. Gasping, Patton pulled his hands back and bounced.

“Anole, big problem!” he yelped.

Anole rubbed at his eyes, reaching over to flick on the top light. “Big enough to wake us all up at 11:30 on a Thursday night?”

“Yes,” Logan stated, peering over Patton’s shoulder. “We have a time sensitive emergency to inform you of. Trix sent us.”

Frown etching onto his face, Anole blinked and stepped back, allowing the three into the room. “What’s going on? Where’s Roman?”

“Probably sleeping,” a voice mumbled underneath a mountain of blankets on the other side of the room.

A girl sat up, running her hand through her long, dark brown hair. “Shut up, Riad, this isn’t your conversation.”

“Bora, I swear to-”

“The White Fang has him,” Virgil interrupted.

Anole froze, face paling. Suffocating tension filled the room. A girl with pink dreadlocks sat straight up and made eye contact with the brunette, and they both leapt out of bed and to the closet on the left side of the room.

“…What?” Anole finally croaked out.

From underneath the blankets, a dark haired, shirtless boy emerged and hurried to his side. “Bora, Marjani, get dressed!” he barked, despite the girls already being out of sight. “Anole, breathe. It’s gonna be alright. What happened?”

“Roman and I were alone in our dorm after he and Virgil got into an argument and Patton went after him,” Logan explained. “We were speaking about the consequences and how to better handle things in the future and-”

“Tangent!” Virgil snapped.

“Apologies, um- as we were speaking, the window opened, and a spider faunus entered, saying that they needed Roman for a summoning. I had no idea what that meant, but Roman certainly did, because he immediately began to fight-”

The window behind them slammed open, and the five whipped around in time to see a man roll onto the floor; when he stood, they could see black scales from underneath the white mask. Riad stood in front of Anole, ready to pounce.

“Just like that, actually,” Logan muttered.

The man clenched his fists and pointed. “Anole Reptilia. I’m here on behalf of the White— _Oof!_ ”

With a battle cry, the brunette smashed her foot into his side as she leapt out of the closet; as soon as she hit the floor, she yelled, “Duck!”

The pink haired girl shot out and bounced off of the wall, spinning and slamming her leg into his face. He flew back and smashed into the bookshelf, at which point the girls ran up and shoved him back out of the window, slamming it shut immediately after.

“Are you safe?” the pink haired girl asked.

Logan stood, raising an eyebrow at her. “I hardly think that after that, you could believe his safety is—”

“Logan, shut _up!_ ” Virgil snapped. “Look, Trix told us to tell you to get your weapons and meet Team STER at the CCT as soon as we possibly can, alright?!”

Anole nodded, swallowing thickly before he turned to his team.

“You heard them. Bora, Marjani, finish getting dressed. Riad, put a shirt on. This is a mission we can _not_ screw up. My brothers are counting on us. As for you three…” Turning to face what was left of PRVL, Anole raised an eyebrow. “You coming along, or did Trix tell you to stay here?”

“Yes,” Patton replied.

Anole blinked. “What?”

“We’re coming,” Logan said.

Scoffing, Virgil crossed his arms. “As if we’d stay behind…”

Anole nodded and held out his hand, jogging backwards towards the closet on the right. “Alright, stay here for a minute. We can go get our weapons together. Patton, message Trix to let her know we’re getting ready.”

“On it!”

The door shut behind him and Riad, leaving Patton, Virgil, and Logan alone with the two half-dressed girls. The one with pink hair ran into their closet and grabbed a handful of clothes, tossing half of them to the brunette, who kept her eyes glued to the window.

“Bora and I are gonna make it our mission to keep you three safe,” the pink haired girl stated. “As long as we’re with you, we’ll make sure none of you get hurt.”

As Bora snapped her belt around her waist, she nodded. “We’ll do the same with Roman as soon as we find him. He’s gonna be alright.”

Letting out a sigh, Patton let his shoulders drop. “Gracious, he’d better be…”

The closet door swung open, and Anole hopped out, tugging his boot over his foot. “Alright, let’s get—” He stumbled; Riad caught him just before they collided and steadied him on his feet. “Let’s get moving.”

No one needed to be told twice.

* * *

Trix whirled around, pacing back towards her teammates. “Gods, where _are_ they?!”

“You’re going to wear a hole in the sidewalk,” the one with blue hair sighed.

“Oh? And why do you think that is, Eve?!” she snapped. “Surely it’s not because one of the biggest terrorist organizations in all of Remnant has my baby brother captive and could very well kill him for the chance to get their hands on my older brother! _Surely_ it can’t be because of that!”

The man next to them crossed his arms. “You don’t need to yell at them. They’re just trying to help.”

“Rakesh is right,” the other girl said. “There’s nothing we can do right now. Try to calm down.”

Growling, Trix ran a hand over her ponytail. “I’d be a hell of a lot calmer if my stupid brother and his team would _get_ here already!”

“Then I guess it’s time for you to calm down,” Eve replied, pointing behind her.

She spun at the sound of footsteps racing towards them; throwing up her arms, she started to storm towards the two teams.

“What the hell took you so long?!” she shouted.

Anole slowed to a stop, letting out a huff. “Well, we would’ve been here sooner, but _someone_ had to go and forget her locker pin…”

Behind him, Marjani threw up her hands. “I’m dyslexic! You know I’m bad at numbers!”

“Finals are next week! Why the hell wouldn’t you know it by now?!”

“Why didn’t Logan know _his_ locker number?!”

“He was opening Roman’s! What, you think everyone should have all of their team member’s locker codes memorized?!”

“Can we please focus?!” Virgil snapped.

Patton ran over to stand next to Anole. “Do we have a plan?”

“As much as we can get right now.” The blonde girl walked over and extended her hand. “I’m Stella. Don’t think we’ve met yet, but I’ve heard good things about you.”

“You… have?” Patton asked, gently taking it and shaking.

Nodding, Stella pulled away and looked between the three. “As soon as we get into Vale, we’re going to split up and start searching through the town. Patton, you take your team to the south of the commercial district and start looking around the town square. Anole, take AMBR west and check the port for any signs of them. Trix, we’re going to Junior’s nightclub. I’ve heard he has a lot of info on the crime going on in this city.”

“Seriously? But he’s such a nice guy…”

“He almost willingly kissed a minor last break. I don’t think he’s as nice as we think he is,” Rakesh called.

Stella waved him off. “We’ll have Trix message you with any info we get. I expect the two of you to do the same. The three of you have each other’s numbers, correct?”

They nodded.

“Good. Then let’s get going.”

Trix immediately took off; the rest weren’t far behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Special shoutout to Blues for the support on Ko-fi <3 <3 <3)


	12. Fight or Flight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time for a rescue mission.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Behind the Schnees: https://youtuberswithalex.tumblr.com/post/172970155583/prvl-v1c12-fight-or-flight-behind-the-scenes
> 
> Warnings: mild swearing, fighting, minor injuries
> 
> (Also, this chapter is like... 11k words, meaning that, in true RWBY fashion, the final chapter is about twice the average for every other chapter in this volume, and I... apologize haha)

“Get in there!”

Roman’s face skidded across the carpeted floor as he was tossed into the unfamiliar room.  Pain blossomed across his cheek; he groaned when he tried to push himself up, only to remember that his wrists were bound behind his webbed wings. Hissing, he rolled onto his back just in time to watch the door slam shut.

The room had no lights. Roman would be thankful for his night vision if it wasn’t for the fact that the only reason he had it was the same reason he was in this situation to begin with.

Slowly, he forced himself into a sitting position and looked around. The room itself wasn’t very big; he could maybe fit his body length across it twice. There were no windows, and nothing but bare walls to decorate. A little slip of light came out from the crack at the bottom of the door. Roman could see the silhouettes of two sets of feet outside.

He couldn’t escape. Roman tried not to let his heart thunder at the thought.

A third person stormed up to the door, and even through the door, heavy breathing could be heard. “You only got _one_ of them? Are you kidding me?!”

“We tried, sir, but they-”

“Obviously, you didn’t try hard enough! You think Torius is going to come after just one? And the _youngest?!_ You really think he’s going to come after _him?!_ ”

Roman’s jaw set. Gods, even when he was being held hostage…

“Trix said something about coming after him. All is not lost.”

“Yeah, you’d better hope so, for your sakes! I should send you back to Adam for screwing up the mission like this!”

“Please forgive us.”

The third person growled. “Whatever. Just let me in so I can do what I can with as little as you gave me to work with.”

The door swung open, and Roman flinched at the sudden light in his eyes; as soon as the door was shut, he heard footsteps creep over to him.

“Roman! It’s so good to finally meet you,” the man sweetly greeted.

Slowly, Roman looked up, swallowing thickly as his eyes widened. For a split second, his brain produced the mental image of being impaled by the terrifyingly large ram horns sticking out of his head, which only made his heard beat faster. A cube dangled on his belt, the swaying momentarily distracting him. The man crouched and looked at Roman with the one eye that wasn’t hastily covered by a stained, white cloth.

“I’ve heard lots of good things about you. This is your first year at Beacon, isn’t it? My, how exciting that must be! How’s your semester going?”

Roman glared, forcing back any fear shaking his body. “Who are you?” he spat.

The man kneeled and smiled, sending shivers down Roman’s back. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, buddy. My name’s Sullivan; I’m a friend of your big brother’s.”

It clicked in his mind who this man was. He’d heard all about their “friendship” over the past few years. Roman felt his blood boiling. “Oh, I’m sure you two get along swell if you have to resort to kidnapping me in order to see him.”

Sullivan’s smile faltered a bit, but wasn’t swiped away. “Oh, come now, I’m sure you know how hard it is to reach him. I just want to have a little chat with him, is all.”

“What, are you going to try to convince him to join the White Fang again? Try to get him to join back up with you scoundrels and help you terrify and manipulate humans into doing whatever you want?”  Roman stuck his chin out, allowing his fear and anger fuel this psuedo-confidence. “Torius will _never_ choose to speak to a such a villain as you!”

The smile was gone, and in its place a piercing glare. He snatched Roman’s collar and roughly yanked him off of his feet, standing at his full height. “ _I_ am not the villain here,” he growled. “You think your brother is a hero? Think he’s so brave and awe-inspiring for _running_ and _betraying_ us?! You think hero would do _this?!”_

Sullivan reached up and jerked the cloth up and away from his left eye, revealing… well, nothing. His eyelid cracked open to a gaping hole where his eyeball should have been. Roman had to swallow back bile. He tried to look away, but Sullivan grabbed his chin and forced him to see.

“Your brother is not as innocent as you think he is. I’m not letting him get away with this, and _you’re_ going to help me.”

Baring his teeth, Roman swung his leg back and jabbed his knee towards Sullivan’s crotch; the stronger man jerked back just in time for the attack to miss. He dropped Roman to the floor, where his head collided with the hard concrete under the carpet with a loud _crack_. A yelp slipped out of his throat before he could stop it.

He opened his eyes to a foot racing towards his face, and then everything went black.

* * *

Virgil had always known his first trip to Vale would be exciting, but he’d always imagined it the curiosity-and-wonder type, not the someone-going-to-die-if-we-don’t-find-them type.

Even though they were the only three on the streets at this hour, he, Patton, and Logan were all scrunched together as they walked down the sidewalk. Their leader was in the middle, cloak wrapped tightly around him; his shield bumped against the sheath to Roman’s sword, smacking it against Logan’s pants, who tried to steady it with the hand that wasn’t clutching his own book. It was the only sound outside of their footsteps.

Gripping his pole tighter, Virgil looked at his teammates. “I don’t think there’s anything outside of shops around here,” he whispered. “D’you think we should head back to the square and try a different direction?”

“Perhaps. Have we heard anything from the other teams yet?” Logan asked.

Patton shook his head. “Maybe that guy didn’t know anything and they’re trying to find someone else to give them information. The shady side of town and the docks aren’t that far for them to take this long…”

“Well, it’s not like we’ve been updating them, either,” Virgil pointed out, turning and heading down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.

As the other two joined him, Logan let out a soft hum. “True, and that’s because we have nothing _to_ update. It’s possible that they also haven’t found anything.”

“Yeah, and maybe it’s possible that they were—”

Virgil’s reply was cut off by heavy vibrating and loud music erupting from Patton’s pocket, echoing through the empty streets; yelping, Patton scrambled to pull his scroll out.

“ _T-O-P! T-O-P! Bow down to the tower of pimps! T-O-P! T-O-P! Bow down to th–_ ”

“Hello?”

Virgil could just make out Trix’s voice from the speaker pressed against Patton’s ear. _“We found something. Where are you guys?”_

“Uh…” Patton paused, looking around for a street sign. “Cherry Blossom Road. The same one where Tukson’s Book Trade is.”

_“Awesome, alright— Junior let it slip that there’s something going on with the White Fang near that bakery on the square, the one that sells that sweet bread you said your family always gets. Stella wants you guys to check out the area.”_

“We’ll get right on it.”

_“Just— be careful, alright? Don’t engage in any fights if you do find them. We’re on our way, so don’t do anything stupid until we get there. We don’t need to lose any more of you tonight. Is that clear?”_

Swallowing thickly, Patton nodded. “Crystal.”

_“I’m hanging up to call Anole now. Stay safe.”_

A buzzing rang over the line, and Patton jerked away, using his other hand to rub his ear while he ended the call. He shoved his scroll back into his pocket and started to jog down the street. “Come on!”

“That’s odd,” Logan muttered. “Why would they choose to indulge in criminal activities in such a populated area?”

Virgil snapped his pole in half and sprinted after Patton. “Dude, focus on that later!”

“Apologies.”

As soon as he got to the corner of the square, Patton skidded to a stop, holding out his hands for balance. His eyes darted around to search for any movement as the other two came up behind him.

“Do you see anything?” he softly asked.

Virgil huffed. “Of course not, Pat, it’s too dark…”

“Unless you’re a faunus,” Logan corrected. “The retinas in their eyes are much more receptive than human’s. This is possibly due to the…”

A shadow shifted on the far corner, drawing Patton’s attention away and blocking Logan’s voice out completely. Focusing his vision, he leaned just a tad bit forward. Someone was standing at the corner, and they…

Patton gasped, throwing his arms back and dragging himself and his teammates back around the corner. They both let out yelps, but Patton frantically shushed them.

“There’s a White Fang guy over there!” he hissed.

Their jaws snapped shut. Patton pressed himself against the wall, peering just enough around the corner to get the faunus back in his sights; they paused at the end of the road and shifted their gun before turning and pacing back to where they’d come from. Patton glanced at Logan and Virgil and gave them a nod, and then crept into the square as quickly and quietly as he physically could.

Once they were at the corner, Patton looked down the street. A sigh of relief danced on his lips when he saw one single street light illuminating the area, but the calm was destroyed as soon as he realized there was not one, but four members of the White Fang slowly making their way up and down the road. He bit his lip and looked to the others.

“Trix said they were on their way to the square,” he breathed. “We have to wait for them to do anything. Right now, we just need to lay low and not get into trouble, alright?”

Virgil and Logan nodded, each gripping their weapons tighter than before. Patton gently pulled his shield against himself and looked back down the road. By the looks of it, they still had a couple more minutes before they would have to hide to avoid the next—

_Blam!_

Patton whipped around just in time to watch Logan rip his hand away from the handle of Roman’s sword, hissing a yelp as quietly as he could.

“Gods!”

“What the hell was that?!” Virgil hissed.

“I don’t understand! Why is Roman’s weapon so sensitive?! I hardly touched it!”

Footsteps started to echo through the streets. “The hell was that…?”

“Looks like stealth is out of the window…”

Jumping past Patton and around the corner, Virgil lifted his pole and started shooting at the members of the White Fang running towards them. Three of the four stopped and raised their arms to cover themselves, but one lifted his gun and fired back. Sprinting towards them, Virgil flicked Sangria Salvia to its full length and slammed it into their side. They crashed into the wall and got back to their feet surprisingly quick.

Patton whimpered. “Oh, Trix is gonna be mad…”

“Even more so if we don’t assist him,” Logan pointed out, drawing Roman’s sword. “Come on!”

The two ran to the street just as Virgil launched himself at the member against the wall; the other three members came rushing towards them, drawing their swords and their guns, and Logan and Patton crouched in preparation.

When the second member with a gun lifted his weapon, Patton launched himself forward, using his shield to knock them back before they could fire. Logan raised Roman’s sword to block both of the remaining members’ own, and swung his book around to knock them away. As soon as they regained balance, they charged again.

Virgil swung his pole, but the member ducked and thrust his head up, colliding with Virgil’s mouth; he yelped and stumbled back a few steps, allowing the member to slam one fist into his stomach and the butt of their gun against his chest armor. They swung their fist at his face again, but this time, he launched himself down and back, leaping off of the ground with one hand while he used the other to smash his pole into the side of their head. They kartwheeled and landed on one knee to raise their gun and fire.

Leaping over one of the members’ swords, Logan threw Malgre Myosotis into its pistol form and shot at the one to the left. They snapped their sword to cover their face, and Logan slammed Roman’s blade against it to leap over them, accidentally firing a few shots as he pushed against it. As soon as his feet hit the ground, he heard the whirring of another blade, and he ducked and rolled just before the second member made contact. Logan flipped his gun to grab the strap and flung it towards the sword above it; it wrapped around smoothly, and he yanked it out of their hands. They reached for it, but Logan kicked them back, only for the first member to come flying at him with their sword above their head. Flinging the two swords he had now in front of his face in an X, he winced at the clanging that echoed through the street and pressed as hard as he could.

Bullets pelted Patton’s shield as he ran forward. The second he heard the firing stop, he reared back and frisbeed Dave as hard as he could towards the member. It slammed into their chest, and their arms flung forward, grabbing the weapon on accident. They stared down at it, mouth hung open, until Patton leapt and kicked them in the stomach, sending them to the ground and the shield flipping out of their grip and into Patton’s hands. Quickly, the member rolled to their feet and fired, but Patton blocked the shots and fired back. Just as he was gearing to throw his shield again, they sprinted forward and tackled him to the ground.

Virgil leapt off of the wall with Sangria Salvia held in front of him, aiming for the member’s chest, but they shot a hand up and grabbed it before it could hit them. As his eyes widened, the member swung the pole up and over and slammed Virgil into the asphalt. He groaned and rolled over, rubbing the back of his head; when he looked up, he saw the White Fang member grinning and aiming their gun at his head.

An arrow wedged itself in their back, and they yelled. Virgil watched as they dropped to the ground and revealed Anole, bow raised in one hand while the other gripped the wall where he hung about ten feet in the air. He dropped down, and Virgil released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.

“Are you alright?” Anole called as he ran over.

Virgil nodded and opened his mouth to respond, but movement caught the corner of his eye as the rest of Team AMBR ran around the corner to join the fight. Bora and Marjani leapt at the members attacking Logan, Riad sprinted to kick the member pinning Patton away, and Anole slammed his foot onto the back of the member who had been fighting Virgil. Anole pointed to the door of the only building on the street that had its light on.

“Go find Roman! We’ll take care of these guys.”

The three nodded and scrambled away from the gunfire and clanging of metal. Patton yanked on the door handle, but it didn’t budge. Virgil let out a growl.

“Of course,” he huffed. “That would have been too easy.”

“There has to be another entrance around here somewhere,” Logan pointed out, putting Roman’s sword back in its sheath.

Stepping back, Patton looked around; his eyes fell on an open window the next story up. He pointed to it and looked at Virgil.

“There!” he said. “I can help you jump up there, and then Logan can throw his book at you, and you pull the two of us up.”

Virgil blinked. “M-Me?”

“Yes! Use your pole!”

Nodding, Virgil headed back a few feet while Patton crouched with his shield in front of him. Virgil charged forward with Sangria Salvia extended, and as soon as it made contact with Dave, he kicked off of the ground. Patton lifted his shield above his head and jumped as Virgil fired his weapon. The sound of shattering glass echoed over the fight a second later.

“He missed,” Logan muttered.

“I’m okay!”

Patton reached over and looped his arm around Logan’s. “Throw your book!”

As soon as Virgil appeared in the window, Logan gripped his strap and launched Malgre Myosotis. Virgil leaned over the edge and just caught it before using both hands to hold it as tightly as he could. Logan jiggled the strap, and it retracted, bringing Patton and Logan with it. They tumbled over the windowsill and to the floor, taking Virgil down with them.

“And this is the part where Roman would make fun of us,” Virgil groaned.

Patton scrambled to his feet and looked around at the empty room they’d landed in, heading for the door as soon as he found it. “Come on!”

The hall, as it turned out, was much more dangerous than it was outside. The second Patton flung the door open, two members of the White Fang whipped around and started firing their guns; he threw up his shield and tried not to flinch at the _clangs_ of bullets against it. Footsteps rushed up behind him, and he ducked as Virgil rolled over him and into the hall. Sangria Salvia whirled around and knocked the guns out of their hands. As Virgil kicked one in the chest, Patton threw his shield into the other’s stomach.

When those two hit the ground, they heard a handful more rushing down the hall to the left. Logan ran out, and Patton pointed to the right.

“We need to get out of here.”

They sprinted, and just as they were turning the corner, Logan saw the members of the White Fang rushing into the area they’d just left. He let out a growl and stopped, turning to look at Patton and Virgil.

“Search for Roman,” he called. “I’ll attempt to distract these people!”

Patton nodded, furrowing his brow. “Stay safe.”

As they ran off, Logan turned back to the six people in white masks that were surrounding him. They held up their guns; he slowly looked around at each one individually. His eyes narrowed.

Logan grabbed the strap of his book and swung, the binding slamming into one and knocking them into the next two people over. Gunshots rang through the hall, but he ducked and ran, sliding and scooping up one of the discarded guns. He got on one knee and shot two more down. The last one screamed and charged, but Logan drew Autumn Amaryllis and spun, blade connecting with the member’s side and throwing them into the wall.

With everyone around him down, Logan allowed himself to take a deep breath. He slid Roman’s sword back in its sheath and hurried after his teammates.

He was just rounding his third corner when he nearly smashed face first into Patton; they both let out a yelp and stumbled back a step or two before regaining their composure. Virgil caught Patton when he slipped on the small sheet of ice he’d left under his feet.

“Have you found anything?” he asked.

“No, I was trying to find you,” Logan replied. “Did you?”

Patton shook his head, biting down on his lip. “We checked every room. There’s a staircase in the next hall. We were just coming to find you.”

Nodding, Logan readjusted his grip on his book. “Let’s start downstairs.”

* * *

Riad slammed the White Fang member into the asphalt, breathing heavily as he got to his feet. “Gods, these guys were tanks! I didn’t know the White Fang had guys this strong!”

“They have stronger,” Anole lowly pointed out. “They usually put more experienced guys like this on guard duty, but they’re not their most powerful.”

“Explains why there were only four out here to begin with,” Bora said.

Anole’s pocket began to vibrate, and he whipped out his scroll, answering the call as soon as he saw his sister’s face on the screen. “Trix!”

_“Anole! Patton’s not picking up; where are you? Are you with them?!”_

He cursed under his breath. “Gods, no- I mean, we were, but there were guards outside of the building, and they were already here, so we took over the fight and I sent them inside-”

_“You WHAT?!”_

“They were holding their own with the guards, I thought they could handle it!”

Trix swore loudly. _“Anole, you get your stupid scales inside and find them, or I swear to the gods—”_

The doors slammed open, and Marjani yelled, holding her two swords out. “Anole, get off of your scroll!”

“Shoot— listen, I can try, but we’ve got a new wave of guards coming at us,” Anole yelped. “I can probably—”

_“Ugh, don’t even bother! Listen, we’re almost there— We’ll send Eve and Rakesh to help you guys out. Stella and I will go in and look for PRVL. Just— stay safe, don’t do anything stupid, and keep your scroll on, understand? I don’t need to lose any other stupid brothers tonight!”_

A smile tugged on the edge of his lip, but he bit it down. “Got it. Be careful.”

Just as he shoved his scroll back in his pocket, a bullet whizzed past his ear; he shot an arrow and charged into the fight.

* * *

As they ran into yet another empty room, Virgil let out a low growl. “Where the hell could they have put him?”

Patton chewed on his lip, shaking his head as he turned to head back into the hall. “We just have to keep looking. We’ll find him eventually.”

“The longer we look, the higher the chances are that he’ll be in the next room,” Logan pointed out. “That means that, should we keep searching, there will come a time where that percentage should be one hundred percent. There’s no need to fret.”

“I think there’s plenty of reason for that.”

They skidded around a corner to find another group of white masks shifting to look at them; Logan grabbed Malgre Myosotis, and Virgil let out a loud groan.

“We’re never going to find him if we keep having to stop and fight!” he yelled.

Patton pulled him back around the corner as Logan leapt into the fight. Gunshots echoed through the hall, followed by the _thuds_ of bodies hitting the floor. As Logan reappeared, groans filled the air. They ran in the opposite direction.

A door opened at the end of the hall, and the three skidded to a stop, readying their weapons for a fight. Two figures stepped out and looked around; one made eye contact with them, and she let out a yell and ran to them.

“There you are!” Trix exclaimed.

She scooped Patton into a tight hug, reaching out to grip Virgil’s free hand and smiling at Logan. Patton squeezed her back before he pulled away and looked up at her.

“You scared us!”

“Are you three alright?” she asked. “None of you are hurt?”

Logan shook his head. “We’re all safe. Any members of the White Fang that we’ve come across have been taken care of.”

Rushing over, Stella laid a hand on Trix’s shoulder and turned to the boys. “Have you found anything?”

“No. He’s not on the second floor, and we’ve looked through almost every room on this floor,” Virgil said. “We can’t find him anywhere!”

Trix growled and looked at the floor. “They probably took him to the basement,” she huffed. “That’s always been his schtick.”

“Whose?” Patton asked.

“Sullivan. I’ll explain some other time; right now, we need to get to the basement. Where are the stairs?”

“They’re just a couple of halls down,” Patton replied. “Follow us.”

* * *

Marjani leapt and landed on the shoulders of the two White Fang members rushing up behind her; with a flip, she shoved them to the ground and turned to the gunman racing towards her. She stuck her arms out and twirled, letting the two swords in her hands smash the gun to the ground. A yell sounded overhead as Bora flipped over her and slammed them into the asphalt.

Another member charged at them, but a curved pistol on a string wrapped around them and yanked them back. As they fell to the ground, Anole pulled his weapon off of them with a flick of the curved pistol on the other end of the string. He connected the two at the barrels and grabbed and arrow, firing it at a member that was gearing up to attack Riad.

Riad sent a thankful nod at Anole before pressing a button on the handle of his mace. As soon as the chain and spikes on the ball began to glow a dark red, he whipped it at one of the other members near him, and he leapt back to avoid the explosion upon its impact. He pressed another button that made his weapon glow blue; he slammed it on the ground and jumped to avoid the sheet of ice that froze a few members to the ground.

A metal arm shot through the fight and grabbed one of the trapped faunus. They yelled as it ripped them out of the ice and dragged them away, knocking over multiple other members in their path. Eventually, Riad watched as a shirtless man with teal hair used his other metal fist to punch the member into the air with a poof of black dust. They flew high into the sky, and Riad knew they weren’t coming back down for a while. He grinned at the man as he walked over.

“Rakesh, right?” he said.

Rakesh nodded and looked behind him. “Eve should be somewhere around here. They said they wanted to take the guards on the other side of the building by themself. Shouldn’t take them long.”

Running backwards, Anole shot another arrow and glanced at the two. “Are Trix and Stella inside?”

“Yes. You should join them.”

Anole’s eyes widened, and he whipped around. “Huh?!”

“You and Riad should go in and help,” Rakesh repeated. “The more people searching, the sooner you’ll find your brother. Eve and I can help your other two team members to clear out these guards.”

A White Fang member ran forward with their sword raised, and Rakesh swung his left arm back, slapping them out of the way. When he looked back, Anole and Riad were having a silent conversation; Riad shrugged with a smile, and Anole let out a huff before he shot another arrow.

“…Fine,” he said. He then turned to face where the girls fought and yelled, “Bora, Marjani! Listen to Eve and Rakesh, got it?”

“Aye aye, sir!”

“You’re the boss!”

The crevices in Rakesh’s metal right hand began to glow white. He turned and punched the air in the direction of the doors, and a gust of wind blasted through the members in between. Riad and Anole said a brief word of thanks before sprinting into the building.

* * *

The doors burst open, and footsteps echoed through the large, white room the five had just run into. On the opposite side, the bat and spider faunus from earlier stood on either side of a door; the grabbed their weapons and jumped into a fighting stance.

“Brother Sullivan!” the girl yelled.

Patton gasped, and Virgil lunged for his hand, grabbing it just before Patton’s semblance kicked in. The temperature dropped going up his forearm. When he glanced down, he saw a large chunk of ice frozen around their hands. Cursing under his breath, Virgil sternly looked at their leader.

“Do _not_ freeze us to the floor again.”

The two faunus began to charge at them; while Patton let out a whimper, Trix launched herself forward and spun, the large ninja stars on her hands bouncing off of the bat’s arms as he threw them up. Stella calmly walked forward and lifted her hand, and the lights in the room immediately dimmed until the moonlight streaming through the windows near the ceiling was visible.

“We’ll take care of the bat,” she said, turning back to the boys. “You two take care of her.”

As she ran into the fight, whip flying at the bat, Virgil let out a low growl. “What a fantastic idea.”

There was the sound of scraping metal behind them, and then Logan was at Virgil’s side with Roman’s sword in his hand. “With three of us against one, theoretically, we should be able to take her down in little time,” he said. “There’s nothing to fear.”

Just as the words were out of his mouth, a web shot out and wrapped around Logan’s wrist, jerking him forward and directly into the woman’s fist. He stumbled back a step, but she pulled him back and twirled him; the web wrapped around him and set his arm at an odd angle. Logan let out a yelp, but managed to swing the sword up and slice the web apart anyway. She fired another at him, but he ducked back and did a flip, throwing his book at her and wrapping the strap around her leg as he was in the air. With a swift tug, she fell to the ground, and his book came spiraling back. She leapt to her feet and shot one last web at him that hit the target directly. His arms pinned to his side, and he tumbled to the ground.

Virgil gripped his pole and ran forward, tugging Patton along with him as best as he could while the spider faunus charged at them. She whipped out a knife and stabbed at him, but Virgil slammed her arm away with Sangria Salvia before it could make contact. Patton pulled forward and thrust his shield towards her head; she jumped back and swung her leg, heel connecting with Virgil’s jaw and causing him to stumble. Contorting them to twist around, Virgil slammed the block of ice into the back of her head and shoved her behind them. As soon as she hit the floor, she rolled over and shot a web; Virgil yanked them sideways so it hit the block of ice instead of them.

“Are you serious?!” a voice boomed over the fight. “You can’t even keep a couple of kids out of here?!”

Virgil whipped around to see who was speaking, but the flash of orange disappeared before he could get a good look. The next thing he knew, a foot was smashing through the ice block connecting him and Patton. They tumbled to the ground and let out yelps before reaching to grasp their wrists.

“Forgive us, Brother Sullivan,” the spider faunus pleaded, “They have us outnumbered!”

“They’re _kids,_ Trifa! You should have knocked them out ages ago!”

Virgil peeled his face off of the ground to look at the owner of the voice. The horns sticking out of his orange hair sent a wave of cold fear through his bones, but not nearly as much as the fact that it seemed he was turning his attention to look at Logan. Panic clawed at his throat as he turned to look at Patton, but their leader’s eyes were fluttering open and shut, dazed and unaware of their surroundings. Virgil swallowed thickly and looked towards his other teammate.

Logan finally managed to wrangle an arm out of the web, yanking it off of him the moment he had the ability to; he lunged for his book, but the man grabbed his collar and pulled him back. A choking noise made its way out of his throat. He squirmed to get away as the man lifted him into the air and turned him around to look at his face.

There was a beat where the man stood as still as the night. Virgil grabbed his pole and charged.

Just as suddenly as he was there, the man was gone, leaving Logan toppling towards the ground while Sangria Salvia crashed into his chest. Logan flew into the wall. His head hit the plaster with a dull _thud_ , and then he crumpled to the floor. Virgil stood in shock for a moment before a foot smashed into his spine and thrust him forward, into the wall next to Logan.

He was unconscious before he even hit the tile.

* * *

Once the boy in dark clothes was out, Sullivan shot a glare back at Trifa.

“See? Was that so hard?” he sneered.

She hung her head. “No, sir. I’ll get better.”

Huffing out a laugh, he turned and walked towards the fight Yuma was handling. “You’d better. I don’t think Adam would appreciate it if you were sent back with a note on how poorly you fought tonight, now would he?”

Before he could hear her answer, Sullivan grabbed the cube dangling on his belt and pressed a button; the sounds of clanking metal almost buried the sounds of the fight until an axe was firmly in his grip. He tried to focus his vision on where Yuma and the girls were, but without depth perception, it was nearly impossible to figure out where to land an attack without hurting his ally. Instead, he figured out where the redhead might land next and attempted to place all of his energy in that one spot.

His aura jostled as he teleported, and Trix skidded in front of him, back towards him as she faced Yuma. With a grin, Sullivan raised the axe and swung.

A cord wrapped around the handle just as it was about to hit; he whipped around to see the unfamiliar blonde woman gripping the whip and straining as hard as she could to keep the axe from making contact. Trix leapt at Yuma, blades spinning, and Sullivan growled. He yanked his weapon to his side, causing the blonde to gasp and stumble in front of him. As she tried to regain her footing, he lifted his arm and jabbed his elbow into her spine. She fell to the ground as a yellow light crackled across her body.

The room lit up; the remaining four squinted.

Trifa walked up to Sullivan’s side, dagger tightly in her grip; she lifted it, but he put a hand on her chest and shook his head.

“Leave it,” he said. “If we kill anyone tonight, it’s a Reptilia. No one else deserves to suffer for Torius’s betrayal.”

As if on cue, Trix slid to a halt, glaring Yuma down as she lifted her blades and shot bullets. Sullivan pressed a button on his axe, and it illuminated yellow; he thrust it through the air in her direction, and a bolt of lightning shot out and struck her in the side. She screamed and collapsed. Red light crackled over her body.

Grinning, Sullivan kicked the blonde’s unconscious form out of the way. “This is _my_ kill.”

He stalked forward, lifting the axe above his head as a sense of satisfaction crept through his veins. If he couldn’t kill that betraying reptile tonight, then, well… maybe one of the prized sisters could be just as sweet a victory.

The temperature at his feet dropped, and he suddenly couldn’t take another step.

Sullivan’s gaze snapped down to see a thick sheet of ice surrounding the tiles around him, with a little trail of excess leading to the left. He turned in that direction, jaw clenching as a roar built up in his throat.

The cloaked faunus boy’s hand dropped to the tile as his eyes fluttered shut.

Sullivan growled and swung his axe to the floor, shattering the ice around his left foot. Just as he was swinging to free his right, the window crashed open, and a foot smashed into his chest. The force of the attack sent Sullivan flying, freeing him from the ice. He rolled across the floor and only regained his balance when he shoved the blade of his axe through the tile.

He moved to glare at the attacker, but froze upon seeing his face. The other man stood to his full height with his fists clenched and a fire in his eyes. A shiver went down Sullivan’s spine.

Slowly, the man lifted his blue hands and calculatedly swooshed them in front of him.

_MY BROTHER WHERE_

Sullivan laughed, trying to force back any more shivers from making themselves obvious. “Torius. It’s been a while.”

His expression didn’t falter. _WANT BROTHER_

“I’m surprised. I didn’t think you would come for that one,” he retorted.

Torius bared his teeth; Sullivan knew that if he had ever developed a voice, a loud growl would be echoing through the room. He began to storm forward, causing Trifa and Yuma to scurry towards the exit.

_Cowards_ , Sullivan thought.

If it were anyone else, he knew that they would be nose to nose. Torius was as close to him as he could possibly get without ruining his ability to sign.

_GIVE ME MY BROTHER_

Sullivan hummed. “Even that pretty blond hair of yours can’t keep you from being intimidating, can it?” He reached up to push Torius’s bangs away from his eyes. “Listen, Roman’s all yours if you just hear me—”

His hand gripped his arm, and the next thing he knew, he was crashing into the wall on the other side of the room. As he groaned and rubbed his head, he raised his gaze to laugh at him.

“Okay, okay—poor choice of words.”

_YOU SPEAK I DON’T CARE. WANT MY FAMILY_

Smile falling into a glare, Sullivan climbed to his feet. “Always about your family, isn’t it?” he hissed. “Never care about what impact this is going to have on humanity’s views of faunus. Yeah, that sounds like you.”

Torius glared. _WHITE FANG HURT VIEWS_

“Hurts? Are you _kidding?_ You haven’t seen the progress we’ve made since Khan became the High Leader, have you?” he yelled. Eyes widening, he leaned back and raised his hands in faux shock. “Oh, that’s right! You haven’t, because _your_ cowardly ass left the second things got a little scary!”

_PROTECTING FAMILY,_ he firmly signed.

“The White Fang _is_ family!”

_FAMILY DOESN’T HURT BECAUSE DISAGREE_

Sullivan stormed up to him until they were nose to nose. “Family doesn’t pluck his brother’s eye out over a _stupid argument!_ ”

The echoes of his screams died in the long silence after the words came out of his mouth. Sullivan glared at Torius, lungs heaving as he attempted to regain control over his emotions. Torius simply stared back, stoic as ever.

Finally, Torius gently pushed him back a step. He lifted his hands and slowly signed.

_YOU ME NOT BROTHERS_

There was a pause as the words sunk in. Sullivan stayed still.

Torius drew back and slapped the back of his hand across Sullivan’s face, skin secreting a sticky, searing slime; Sullivan made no attempt to dodge it. Pins and needles covered his body as Torius walked out of view and the weak poison took effect. The world slowly grew darker and darker.

* * *

When Patton came to, the first thing he realized was that he was in unfamiliar arms.

Voices gradually came into focus, but none of them were from whoever was holding him. He could hear Logan and Virgil, and relief coursed through his veins; Trix and Stella’s voices carried through, and he felt safe. But the hands gently pressing his limbs and abdomen sent his curious mind reeling. He cracked his eyes open, squinting in the lights.

Patton saw blond hair, blue patches of skin, a face that was kind of familiar, like he’d seen it in a picture or something…

Oh.

His tongue was heavy in his mouth, and words wouldn’t form, but Torius saw him anyway; he gently smiled at him and snapped his fingers towards where Trix’s voice was coming from. Her face came into view in an instant, and her hand cradled the back of his head.

“You’re awake,” she breathed. “Gods, I’m so sorry—I should have made you three stay in your dorm, I shouldn’t have let Virgil talk me into letting you come—”

Torius waved his hand to cut her off, and then Patton was being shifted into her arms; he put his fists on top of each other and pulled them in opposite directions. She let out a shuddering breath and nodded, looking away towards where Virgil and Logan sat nearby, watching worriedly. Her eyes flickered down to meet Patton’s. He tried to muster as best a smile as he could in return.

“You’re right,” she said. “None of you three were hurt, and that’s all I should be thankful for.”

Virgil crawled forward and put a hand on Patton’s leg. “Riad and Anole are looking for Roman. Trix wants us to stay put for now since none of us have any aura left, but I figured you would want to know.”

Nodding, Patton slowly pushed against Trix to sit himself up; two hands rested on his back to help. He looked back to Torius and smiled, sending him a small wave. Torius mirrored the greeting.

Footsteps echoed through the area, and they all turned to see Anole come skidding around the corner of the hall at the end of the room. With wide eyes, he pointed down the hall and beamed with relief.

“We found him.”

* * *

When they got to the carpeted room at the end of the hall, Riad was cradling a just-slightly-conscious Roman in his arms; his wings drooped wearily, and his wrists and left side of his face were raw and bright red. A mangled spiderweb and piece of rope lay nearby.

Torius slowly approached, kneeling in front of them with a gentle smile. He lifted his hands and very slowly began to sign.

_YOU OKAY?_

Blearily, Roman blinked. He swallowed thickly and opened his mouth.

“I’m fine…,” he croaked, “But your shirt sure isn’t.”

Torius glanced down at the shredded croptop covering his chest; after shooting Roman a dirty look, he stood and faced where the others stood at the door. His next signs were swift and blunt.

_HE’S FINE._

Softly chuckling, Riad looked down at Roman to find him staring right back up at him. He sent him a soft smile and raised his eyebrows.

“Nice to finally meet you,” he muttered.

A weak smirk pulled at Roman’s lips. “…’Nole never said you were cute…”

“Oh, he’s definitely fine,” Anole deadpanned.

The next thing anyone knew, Patton was rushing forward and tackling Roman in a tight embrace; Roman let out a groan, but weakly gripped him in return. Riad pulled back as soon as he was sure Patton had a secure hold on him.

“Patton, ‘m fine, promise,” he mumbled.

The leader shook his head, gripping him tighter.

Logan walked over and mustered up the courage to make eye contact with Roman. He unhooked the sheath of the sword from his belt and showed it to him. “Brought this,” he said, voice soft and strained. “For if we found you and still needed to fight. So you could fight with us.”

Roman smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

Patton finally pulled away and scrubbed at his eyes; he and Roman looked at each other for a moment before he burst into flustered laughter. Logan gently reached down and tugged Patton away. Roman was about to question it when two more bodies plowed into him, gripping him way tighter than Patton had.

“You stupid, idiotic, dumb, dragon-faced, egg-laying…”

“Safe, you’re safe, you’re safe…”

A third, muscular pair of arms joined the hold. Roman let himself be swallowed by the embrace. He carefully unfurled his wings and wrapped them around his siblings.

They were safe.

* * *

“Roman, please, just two more bites…”

“No. I’m done.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it! You hardly touched it!”

“I do not like cream of broccoli, Patton. I’m sorry.”

Sighing, Patton placed the spoon back into the plastic cup and shifted so that he was sitting cross-legged on top of the book shelf. His shoulders fell as he frowned. “You won’t get any better if you don’t eat…”

“I won’t get any better if I get sick from drinking sludge from the dining hall,” Roman shot back, shifting under his blankets. His wings fluttered instinctively, and he winced. “Besides, I’m not ill. I don’t believe a strict diet of soup and toast will help my injuries heal any faster.”

Logan let out a hum from where he sat at Roman’s desk, fairy lights covering the shelves turned off. “Perhaps not the toast, but the Vitamin C in the broccoli does promote the healing of skin and help prevent scar tissue… Also, Roman, are you aware that this assignment for Dr. Picani was due over a week ago?”

“It was only thirty points.”

“Only?!”

The two began to bicker, and Virgil shifted awkwardly on his own bed. He made sure to keep his eyes glued to his scroll even though his mind was far elsewhere. It seemed that his brain was intent on repeating every awful thing he’d said to Roman in the past fourteen weeks; guilt pooled in his lungs as the impact of those statements really hit him.

A part of him wanted to fight back against it, to preserve how he viewed himself as a noble villain just trying to protect himself and those he loved—but another, louder section pointed out that that couldn’t be the truth anymore. He angered Logan. He scared Patton. He hurt Roman. A voice in the back of his head whispered that there wasn’t anything noble about him at all. He was just a villain, plain and simple.

He still didn’t fully trust Roman. True, he did deserve a lot of what he was given—the insults, the fighting, the punch last night –it wasn’t as if Virgil was completely innocent. But the King Taijitu squeezing his lungs reminded him of every cruel word and action the bullies at Sanctum had done, the taunting and names so similar to the things Roman had said and done this past semester, and the alarm bells were screaming at him despite his best efforts to shut them off. Trusting him was going to take a lot of time and effort. One night wasn’t going to change that.

Seeing Trix and Anole do everything they could to protect Virgil, however, even after he’d treated their brother like he had, and how Torius had risked his own safety to save Roman, well… maybe there was a chance that not _all_ faunus were like the ones he’d come to know in Mistral. And knowing everything Patton had been through, what Virgil himself had put him through, and how he had still come out of it all with a smile on his face…

He glanced up at Patton, who was playing with the ends of his cloak as Roman and Logan continued to argue. Virgil had to swallow the lump in his throat when Patton looked back and smiled.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try to be better.

A frown etched on Patton’s face just as Virgil turned his burning eyes back to his scroll. He’d done so many wrong things this semester; he knew he shouldn’t get any of the sympathy their leader was bound to give him if he saw he was upset. This was how he deserved to feel: guilt eating a hole in his stomach, fear of the future causing his heart to thunder so fiercely he was afraid it would alert the rest of the room to his presence, and that irritability that had developed with the change this semester that made his blood boil and a growl lying in wait in the back of his throat.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Patton swiveled to let his feet dangle over the edge of the bookshelf. “Hey, Logan?”

“Yes?”

“Can you come with me to see what other kinds of soup they have at the dining hall? You can help me find another one with lots of Vitamin C that Roman would like, right?”

“Um. I suppose I could.”

“Great!” Patton leapt off of his seat and headed towards the door, grabbing Logan by the hand and dragging him into the hall. “Take care of Roman, Virgil! Don’t get into any trouble!”

The door shut behind them; Roman scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I’m not a child…”

They fell into an awkward silence. Virgil’s heart rattled in his chest.

Letting out a soft sigh, Roman’s hand patted the blanket; again, it felt around, and then his other hand began to do the same. He eventually looked around his mattress before turning to look at his desk. Virgil watched out of the corner of his eye as he started to get up, only to wince and settle back down.

“Um… Virgil?”

He swallowed thickly and looked up.

Roman rubbed the back of his neck and gestured to his books. “Logan must have needed my scroll for something, and they left in such a hurry… Would it… be a problem…?”

Without a word, Virgil stood and got the scroll, head starting to spin as he walked it over to Roman. The faunus’s grateful smile, while normally a grand and dramatic expression, was significantly less impactful with a bandage preventing half of it from appearing. Guilt twisted in his stomach; he lifted his thumbnail to his mouth and looked to the floor.

“Um… I, uh…”

His voice cracked. Virgil attempted to cover it with a cough. He turned and leaned to half-sit on the bookshelf, keeping his eyes far away from his teammate.

“Virgil?”

“I’m sorry.”

The statement had come out so soft that Virgil was half convinced that Roman didn’t even hear it; the silence that followed afterwards gave no answers. Slowly, he turned his eyes to look at him, getting a shocked and confused stare in return.

“You… You’re apologizing,” he said.

Embarrassment crept up his neck. Before he could stop himself, Virgil glared and snapped his gaze away. “Yeah, I’ve been a huge dick this semester, why _wouldn’t_ I?!” he exclaimed. “Look, just—if you’re gonna make fun of me, _don’t,_ just forget I said anything—”

“No, no! I wouldn’t—I’m just surprised, Virgil, I didn’t think you were going to apologize,” Roman hastily explained. “I would never make fun of you for something like this. I swear it on Bellona Desmond’s life!”

Virgil’s muscles gradually relaxed as he swallowed thickly; his face reddened further, and he wrapped his arms around himself. “W-Whatever,” he huffed. “My point still stands.”

There was a beat of silence. Roman shifted in his bed.

“Were you going to say something else?” he softly asked.

Trying to will the frightened lump in his throat away, Virgil sucked in a deep breath and squeezed his eyes shut. “Uh… Just…”

He cleared his throat and sniffled before putting a hand over his eyes. He was the one who had been a jerk this whole semester; why was _he_ crying?! He knew he deserved anything Roman would have to say to him! Gods, even when he was apologizing, he couldn’t get anything right anymore! What was wrong with him?

“Virgil…?”

“S-Sorry, I…” He sucked in a shuddering breath and balled his fist, resting his forehead on it. “Look, I… I’ve been a real dick this semester,” he repeated. “Especially these last few weeks. And it was awful of me, and I’m sorry. I don’t have a good excuse. I just… proved myself the villain. Again. I’m sorry.”

Virgil held his breath, waiting for the laughter or the yelling or… something. But Roman was completely silent. He mustered up the courage to unscrew his eyes and look over, and Roman was staring off into space, deep in thought. His throat started to close up again.

Finally, Roman let out a sigh. He shifted to the edge of his bed, wincing a little before he patted the sheets. “Come here.”

He froze, staring dumbly until Roman raised his eyebrows and gestured again.

“I’m serious. I want to say something.”

Taking his thumb nail into his mouth again, Virgil slowly made his way to Roman’s bed; he awkwardly placed himself in the small space between his teammate and the bookshelf, his legs twisted so that his feet stayed off of the blankets. Roman placed his hand on his thigh and rubbed a couple of circles with his thumb before gently taking Virgil’s free hand.

“I’m not going to yell at you or anything silly like that,” he gently stated. “Relax.”

“Sorry.”

Roman let out a sigh. “You are fine.” He squeezed Virgil’s hand and turned to him. “Look, I… can’t say that it’s going to be easy to forgive you,” he admitted. “You did say and do a lot that hurt. Not just me, but my siblings, and… Well, any other faunus that might have been around to hear. I know I wasn’t exactly a great person in return, and I apologize, but I am not the only person you need to apologize to. You understand that, right?”

Virgil nodded, swallowing thickly.

“However…” Roman laced their fingers together. “Logan told me what you said to him in the sparring gym the other day. About your sister. I don’t blame you for disliking us after that. Virgil, I am so, so sorry you had to go through that. I can’t imagine… I mean, losing any of my siblings for _any_ reason, let alone having someone to blame… I—”

His voice broke, and he lifted his free hand to cover his mouth. As his eyes screwed shut, Virgil hesitantly squeezed his hand.

Finally, Roman sniffled and took a deep breath. “I… I can’t say I would feel much different if I was in your position. It’s not an excuse to be discriminatory, but it is an understandable cause.”

He looked back at Virgil, holding up his head and raising his eyebrows.

“As long as you are willing to work at bettering yourself, to learn that we aren’t all like Nere or the White Fang, and you try to understand that faunus, too, are people just as vulnerable and similar and different from each other as you are… I think… that I can find it in me to forgive you.”

Virgil’s lip trembled, and he bit down on it, slowly nodding at Roman. “Okay,” he breathed.

A gentle smile formed on Roman’s lips. “Okay?”

Virgil nodded again; Roman moved his other hand to join the first, and they squeezed Virgil’s tightly.

“I will help you,” he declared. “And so will Anole, and Trix—Torius, too, if he ever comes around again –and I’m sure Patton and Logan will be more than happy to, as well. I know this might be hard for you, but we can do it. I will do whatever it takes to help you.”

A flustered laugh burst out of Virgil before he could stop it; he turned away, scrubbing tears away from his eyes. “Deal,” he choked out.

Roman’s wing carefully wrapped around him and pulled him closer, and they sat in silence for a few minutes, shoulder to shoulder.

Another low laugh escaped Virgil, head tipping to face his lap. “Suppose this’ll have to happen more often, if we don’t want to disappoint Thomas.”

Roman frowned and blinked. “Who?”

“You know, the guy our middle names form?” Virgil said. “We talked about it at the beginning of the semester. Four of us, stacked in a trench coat?”

“Oh, right. You remembered that for this long?”

He shrugged. “What can I say, I thought it was funny.”

Letting out a laugh, Roman leaned back, the back of his head hitting against the wall with a gentle _thud_ as he shut his eyes. “Well, we’ll have to be sure not to lose any fights in the future. We can’t let him down, after all. And with the four of us being in charge? He must be quite unstable.”

“Mm, careful, Thamir’s gonna find you and make you put some Lien in their Mental Illness Joke Jar.”

“Maybe we should get a Faunus Insult Jar for our team— _Ow!_ Hey!”

“It’s a pillow. Relax.”

“How dare you; I’m already injured!”

Virgil opened his mouth to shoot a retort back, but Roman burst into laughter before any noise could make it out. His cackling encouraged Virgil to start giggling, and they stayed like this for a minute longer until the door swung open and a gasp echoed through the room. Roman and Virgil turned to see Patton with his hands over his mouth and Logan with raised eyebrows, gripping a foam cup.

Holding up his hands, Roman sat up. “Now, Patton, don’t—”

“You two are _cuddling!”_

He ran forward and threw himself on top of the two, arms wrapping around their torsos as he ignored the wind being knocked out of them. Something began to worm its way between them, but a huff from Logan drew their attention away before they could question it.

“While this is quite the pleasant surprise, Patton, I don’t believe it’s healthy to be throwing yourself on top of Roman when he’s still healing,” he pointed out.

Patton shifted, turning to look back at him. “Wanna join the hug?”

Humming, Logan made his way to his own bed, setting the cup on the floor as he sat on his mattress. “I understand the sentiment, but I think I will choose to stay out of touch for this one.”

“Good choice,” Roman groaned. “I think we’re already gonna suffocate.”

Virgil shifted under Patton’s weight, trying to get away from whatever was crawling up his side. “Yeah, c’mon, Dad, you’re gonna kill us!”

There was a beat.

Patton sat up, staring at Virgil with wide eyes.

“Did you just call me Dad?”

Face heating, Virgil blinked. “I— Did I?”

Beaming, Patton started flapping his hands so hard that Roman and Virgil had to lean back to avoid being hit; he let out a laugh and nodded frantically.

“You did! Virgil, you— You called me Dad!”

“How sweet,” Roman cooed.

Virgil scoffed and looked away. “What… ever. S’not like I don’t already have more than one dad. What’s a third, you know?”

Patton launched forward and gripped the two in a tight hug again. He reached his hand out towards Logan, who amusedly rolled his eyes and hesitantly took it. Squeezing it tightly, Patton let out a warming hum.

“You guys are the best family I’ve ever had.”

A vine made its way up between Roman and Virgil, and a wine colored flower bloomed.

* * *

The sky was a bright scarlet shade as the sun started to dip below the horizon less than a week later. Winds whipped through the air from the airships taking off from the docks, exhausted students ready for a break filling each one. The jets rumbled the ground each time. Chatter from other students saying their temporary goodbyes sounded in the time between.

Team PRVL sat on a bench away from the chaos, silent.

As another ship took off, Patton screwed his eyes shut, resisting the urge to cover his ears. “I can’t believe the semester is over,” he softly said.

To his left, Logan hummed. “It certainly did seem to go by quickly, didn’t it?”

The four collectively nodded before falling back into a comfortable quiet.

“…Next semester is going to be a lot different,” Roman pointed out. “New exchange students coming in for the Vytal Festival, our first official job shadowing…”

“And we won’t have any time to prepare for it together,” Patton whispered.

“Well, you and Virgil certainly will have plenty of time,” Logan replied.

Wrapping an arm around Patton’s shoulder, Virgil smiled. “Yeah, we can do whatever we want during break,” he said. “Just because you and I are staying at Beacon doesn’t mean we have to study. We can do anything!”

Patton chewed on his lip and looked back at his partner. “Can we bake cookies?”

“Dude, we can bake so many that our entire _dorm_ is filled with them.”

A small laugh made its way out of him, but it was quickly replaced with tears as he turned to look at Logan and Roman. He sniffled and attempted to hold back a grimace.

“I’m going to miss you two so much!” he whimpered.

Cooing, Roman reached over and grabbed his hand. “It’s only for two weeks, Padre! We’ll be back before you know it.”

“Yes, and we can always communicate via our scrolls and video calls,” Logan added. “With today’s technology, we can talk as much as we need, so long as the CCT stands.”

Patton scrubbed at his eyes and nodded. “Can we talk every day?”

“Of course.”

“We will do nothing less,” Roman replied.

Footsteps broke them out of their conversation as two figures approached; with a sigh, Roman gave Patton’s hand a final squeeze before he reached down to grab the bag at his feet.

“Ready to go?” Trix asked.

He stood, hoisting his luggage over his shoulder. “Not really, but I doubt Mom and Dad would be happy with me if I missed the airship.”

Anole glanced over and observed melancholic the state of Team PRVL. After a moment, he took a step back, reaching out to pull Trix with him. “You know… We do still have a few minutes before it takes off,” he stated. “If you guys need to say goodbye.”

Roman turned to look at the other three; they each got to their feet and arranged themselves in a circle.

“Two weeks isn’t very long,” Logan pointed out. “I think after we get some rest, we’ll be ready to study and work even harder and more effeciently than before.”

“Who knows what kind of trouble we’re going to get ourselves into,” Virgil laughed, a crack in his voice.

“Whatever happens, we’ll be able to face it with everything we’re capable of,” Roman firmly stated, “And we will defeat it all!”

Three pairs of eyes turned to the fourth, wet pair; blinking tears down his face, Patton simply held his arms out. All three filed in, and they held each other tightly.

“I love you, guys,” Patton whispered.

After a long moment, they pulled apart, and Roman headed off to the airship with his siblings. It wasn’t long before four became three became two, and by the time the stars were poking their way into the sky, the bench and the loading docks were clear of all students.

Beacon Academy was still.

* * *

(Listen to this before you read the final scene: [https://youtu.be/8Y2MBpbykPs](https://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutu.be%2F8Y2MBpbykPs&t=N2Y1NTE0MDU3ZmM0MzQwNDBmZTYyMDczZmQ2NTAzMDFjZTBiNDQyYyxhTEh5bWVRTA%3D%3D&b=t%3AIlHxGyFX2hVap6VD42ujXQ&p=https%3A%2F%2Fyoutuberswithalex.tumblr.com%2Fpost%2F172969892493%2Fprvl-vol-1-ch-12-fight-or-flight&m=1))

* * *

The girl kept her head down, avoiding eye contact with anyone and everyone as she made her way down the hall. She pressed the clipboard firmly against her chest to keep any prying eyes away from its contents. Her heels clacked against the tile, and her earrings jingled softly.

When she made it to the door at the end of the hall, she hesitantly looked up at the two women guarding it; after she gave them a nervous smile, they looked at each other and stepped to the side. The girl dropped her gaze again and swallowed thickly before pushing the door open.

The room was silent. Slowly, she looked up at the four figures sitting around the table in the center of the room.

The one at the head of the table narrowed his eyes at her. “Laleh,” he grumbled. “Did I tell you you were allowed to interrupt this meeting?”

“N-No, sir.”

He sighed and stood, placing his hands on the table. “Then can you explain to me, what the _hell_ could you possibly have to say that justifies you being here?”

The girl shifted, glancing down at her clipboard. “Um…”

“She’s just a child,” said one of the women. Tipping her red cowboy hat up just enough to eye the girl, she leaned back in her seat. “You’re frightening her. Calm down and let her speak.”

“If she’s old enough to be here, she’s old enough to handle it,” the other woman snapped. Her dark brown fox tail flicked behind her as she glared.

The boy next to her shifted uncomfortably. “Nere…”

The man in charge lifted his hand, and they all fell silent. Laleh gripped the clipboard tighter as he turned his attention to her.

“Well?”

“W-Well, we, uh… We got a report. From one of our members in the White Fang,” she stated.

He raised an eyebrow. “And?”

“Um… They said that they saw a boy…? They said he’s the one you’re looking for, and they saw him a few nights ago in Vale. I was told that this was really urgent and that I needed to tell you immediately, so…”

She trailed off, eyes falling to the floor. There was silence.

“Perfect.”

Laleh looked up to find a chilling grin resting on the man’s face. She bit down on her lip to hide her shivers.

“Kid, if you’ll excuse us,” he laughed. “We’ve got a plan to form. Too intense for your young ears, Mm-kay?”

She nodded and headed back into the hall. The sound of the man’s laughing followed her, sending shivers down her spine with every step she took.

One last sentence echoed through the building.

“It’s time to get down to business!”

The door slammed shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks. Folks, I can’t believe we’re here. It’s the end of Volume One. We made it.
> 
> Thank you all so, so much for sticking with this for so long already. It really means the world to me that you’re all enjoying my passion project as much as I’m enjoying writing it. Thank you for all the support, encouragement, comments, and fanart!!! I’m still so in awe of how much love this has gotten. Thank you all so, so much.
> 
> Also, the Volume One theme song has been posted and can be listened to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yF9a56s6oIE
> 
> Chapter One of Volume Two will be posted on AO3 on April 30. I'll see you guys, gals, and nonbinary pals then, and I hope you all have a wonderful two weeks until then!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you all enjoyed! Next chapter will be posted on Tumblr on Sunday, on AO3 Monday!


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